FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  521 (11/07/06)

Q. I have just read your comments about video senders in Faqs! Facts! Fax! 518 and have a question. I would like to play video files on my Windows Media Player PC on a 42-inch plasma display installed in another room.  Can you recommend a device that will send the video files (.avi, DivX etc) wirelessly from my PC to the screen?

David Rees

A. What you need is a wireless video sender that works with VGA video signals but as far as I am aware no such device exists (if anyone knows of one please let me know…). The solution is convert the VGA output from your PC into a video signal then use an ordinary video sender to transmit to your screen, though I suspect that there would be some loss of quality. There are a couple of ways to do it. You could swap your PC’s graphics card for one with a composite video output or you could use an external device, like the TView MicroVGA to Video converter, which costs around £70.

Q, I recently purchased a refurbished laptop. However, both Outlook Express and Internet Explorer have the manufacturers logo and name in the toolbars. I would like to reset it to the normal Windows XP format. I have tried resetting the display style in Control Panel to no avail. Your help would be much appreciated.

Kay Williams, via email

A. IE and OE ‘branding’ crops up on a fairly regular basis and since we haven’t dealt with it for a while here are the two simplest fixes. In both cases it’s a good idea to set a new System Restore Point by going to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore, click Set a Restore Point, then OK and follow the Prompts.

Option one is to go to Start > Run and type ‘rundll32 iedkcs32.dll,Clear’ (without the quotes) and reboot. The alternative is a small freeware utility called ISPUnbrand. When the file has downloaded double click on the ‘zip’ icon to open and run the utility and the changes will be made after the PC has been rebooted.

Q. I use Windows XP Home and get two really irritating error warnings, which appear one after the other at frequent intervals during every session. They are: ‘Tvichw32 Driver Open Error’ and ‘Can not load ASPI Layer Driver’. Please tell me how to get rid of them?

Ian McDonald, via email

A. I suspect that you have an Epson scanner or multifunction device and there is a problem with one of the drivers. Disconnect the scanner and uninstall all of the software that came with it from Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. Next, go to the Support section of the Epson website and download the latest drivers and software for your device and Windows version then reinstall. If you have installed any other scanners (now or in the past) these and their drivers should also be removed before you reinstall. If Windows gives you the option to remove old or unused files during the installation click OK.

Q. I can't make System Restore work. When I try it always goes through the motions but ends up "Cannot restore to that date" regardless of what date I try.

The problem arose after I tried to download QuickTime and iTunes from the web. The install program got into a loop and the only way I could stop it was to pull the plug. Since then my previously stable XP2 has thrown all sorts of wobblies. I tried to uninstall QuickTime but could not find it Add/Remove Programs list. So I thought to get rid of it by using System Restore to return to a previous date. No joy!

David Satchell, via email

A. That error message means that your System Restore checkpoints are almost certainly corrupt and therefore useless. You should delete them and the way to do that is to switch System Restore on and off. Open System Properties (Winkey + Break) select the System Restore tab, click ‘Turn off System Restore…’ then OK and reboot, then follow the same steps to switch it back on again.

To remove QuickTime use the uninstaller utility on the QuickTime icon on Start > Programs and make sure you click the option ‘Uninstall Everything’. QuickTime is a tricky customer and it leaves files lying around so you need to open Windows Explorer and go to C: Windows\System 32 and delete: quicktime.cpl and quicktime.qtp. Finally, empty the Recycle bin and reboot and you should now be able to set a fresh Restore Point.

Q. Hardly a day goes by when I am not required to enter my e-mail address somewhere at least once. It's not the shortest of phrases to type, so to avoid repetition and typing errors, is there a way to define one of my function keys to paste in my e-mail address and save me having to type it every time?

Les Morgan, via email

A. It seems like such an obvious facility but the trouble is Windows and most applications all have their own shortcuts and F-key assignments so it would be difficult to come with something that didn’t conflict with one of them. There are workarounds, though, and if you change your browser to Mozilla Firefox then you can install a little freeware extension called Paste Email. All you have to do is fill out the Stored Text Lines box with your email address. It can store up to 15 text strings, enough for your address and other frequently used web form entries. When you come to a web page with a form box asking for your email address simply right click select Paste Email from the drop-down menu and choose your email address or the text line you want to enter.

---end---

© R. Maybury 2006, 0607