FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  522 (18/07/06)

Q. I have just upgraded from Windows 98 and can no longer access the spell checker in Outlook Express. There is the ABC icon showing on the top bar but ‘Spelling’ is greyed out, can you help please?

Joy Cumine, via email

A. In fact Outlook Express doesn’t have a spell checker, instead it relies on the dictionaries in Microsoft Word, Office or Works so unless you have one of those applications installed it will not work but I’ll give you a workaround for that in a moment.

If you have one of those program on your PC then it probably hasn’t been recognised by OE, in which case here’s a couple of things to try. First go to the OE Tools men and select Options, click on the Spelling tab and make sure that ‘Always Check…’ is ticked and ‘English (United Kingdom)’ is showing in the Language box under Settings.

Otherwise it is likely that a file called csapi3t1.dll is missing or corrupt. To replace it go to Run on the Start menu and type msconfig. On the General tab click the ‘Expand File’ button and in the ‘File to Restore’ box type csapi3t1.dll. Next load your Windows XP installation disc and use the Browse button to locate the i386 folder on the CD. If you don’t have a disc and XP was preinstalled use the Browse button to find the i386 folder on your hard disc drive. Finally in the ‘Save File In’ box enter C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Proof, click Expand, and when it has finished reboot the PC.

If Word or Office isn’t installed on your PC you can use third party spellchecker program and I recommend a freeware utility called IESpell, which you will find in the Software Archive

Q. I want to donate my PC to a local school, but before I do so I would like to clean the hard disc. There is nothing on it that I particularly want to save, but it does have some personal and financial information, which I would feel happier if it were wiped out. Is there any software I could purchase that would deal with this problem?

Bill Milne, via email

A. You are right to wipe the disc and apart from anything else, under the terms of the Windows End User Licence Agreement (EULA), (and most other major applications) you are not allowed to sell, lend or pass on software licensed to you. It is theoretically possible to transfer licences but I promise you it’s more trouble than it is worth.

Back to your problem and the simplest way to erase the data on a hard drive is to reformat it, using a Windows 98 Startup disc. If haven’t got one but you have an old Win 98 PC, or know someone who has, go to Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, select the Startup tab, click the Create Disk button and follow the instructions.

Load the Startup floppy and the PC will boot to a DOS screen. At the flashing prompt type format c: then agree to all of the warnings and formatting begins. It is possible to recover data from a formatted disc so if you want to be absolutely sure download a freeware utility called Active KillDisk. This erases and overwrites all of the data on the hard drive, making recovery nigh on impossible.

Q. How do I edit a column of surnames into alphabetical order using Word?.
George Raine, via email

A. Word has number of rudimentary ‘sorting’  options, which you will find on the Table menu. Click the ‘A-Z Sort icon and use the check boxes to make your selections (sort by Text, Date or Number) and ascending or descending order.

Q. When watching a movie on Windows Media Player, the buttons used to slide out of view after a few seconds. This no longer happens and I wonder if I've pressed something that is overriding the hide option?

John Tudor

A. Windows Media Player display options are a little temperamental and you may have to repeat the following steps once or twice to get it to behave. When the movie is playing either right-click into the picture and choose Full Screen or press Alt + Enter and the toolbars and Control Panel should all disappear after a few moments. They will reappear if you move the mouse. If the Control Panel is still visible press Ctrl + Shift + M and it will disappear, though the Start Menu should still be visible and again if you move the mouse the controls will be displayed once again.

Q. I have recently purchased an external hard drive, which I now use for backing up data on my laptop. The laptop drive is divided into four virtual drives and each is backed-up into a separate directory on the external drive. Unfortunately, I find I have to back-up an entire (virtual) drive from the laptop each time I carry out a back-up operation. This is quite unnecessary, as most files have not changed since the last backup. Can you recommend any software that will monitor the status of files on my laptop and only transfer new and modified files, ideally in the background, to the appropriate directory of the external drive?

Brian Purser, via email

A. Windows XP comes with a perfectly adequate backup facility, which can be set to do scheduled ‘incremental’ backup (i.e. only backing up files and folders that have changed). However, whilst the program is more or less ready to use in XP Pro it has to be installed in XP Home. It’s not a difficult job but since we’re running out of space I suggest that you refer to the simple step-by-step guide to installing and configuring XP Backup in Boot Camps 376 and 377.

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© R. Maybury 2006, 1107