FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  528 (29/08/06)

Q. My year-old laptop (a powerful Dell machine running Windows XP Pro) is showing signs of slowing down. Nothing too serious - it still works perfectly well but with slower Windows XP loading times and a lack of responsiveness in general.  

I am told there is nothing particularly unusual in this, and that 'the cure' would be to reformat the hard disk and perform a 'clean' installation of Windows XP (as I use a regularly-updated virus scanner, I am pretty sure that a virus is not to blame). This all sounds a bit drastic, not to say time consuming (all my important files and programs are backed up but the idea of reinstalling all the drivers and downloading the myriad windows updates and security patches is none too appealing!). Is there any less drastic solution, or is a clean install really the only way to get the zip back?

Jonny Milligan, via email

A. Reinstalling Windows should be the last resort for the reasons you have outlined but sometimes it is the only way to revive a really sluggish and constipated PC. However I seriously doubt that yours could have got into such a state in only a year, it usually takes two or three years of really serious abuse to push XP past the point of no return.

Most XP boot up and performance problems are caused by the slow and steady build up of Components and Services that are installed alongside the applications and programs loaded on your PC. These include programs that monitor other programs and your hardware devices and search for updates on the web. They load automatically with Windows and operate in the background, wasting your PCs resources. The point is you don’t need most of these things on your PC and with a little judicious pruning you can get your machine back to something like its original condition. You will find a simple step-by-step guide to XP Tuning in Boot Camps 355 to 357.

Q. In the past I have been advised to use a Surge Protector to protect my modem and dial-up connection against a lightning strike. Can you tell me if they have any effect on the performance of a broadband router?
Graham Sasse, via email

A. None whatsoever and given the current state of the weather you would be well advised to fit one as soon as possible. However, nothing will protect your PC against a direct strike to your home or outside power or telephone cables so it’s a good idea to unplug the mains and phone cables when there’s a lively storm in the vicinity.

Q. For many years I have used a carousel slide projector to show slides during lectures. I would like to be able to use a DVD player attached to a VGA projector. All the slide creation programs that I have seen seem to produce automated slide shows where slide changes take place at pre-determined intervals. Clearly this is not suitable for lecturing, and what I am looking for is a program, which will bring up the next slide from a DVD when instructed by pressing the 'next' button on the DVD player. Do you know of an application that will do just that?

Brian Morgan, via email   

A. There is a simpler way and I’ll come back to that in a moment but if you are wedded to using a DVD player then you should know that very few models have VGA outputs, so any projector you use must have a composite video input (fortunately most do).

Playback shouldn’t be a problem. If the DVD player supports JPEG file display you will be able to step through one image at a time using the player’s controls. Otherwise you will have to record your images to disc in Video CD format and use the player’s Pause button to display each image as a still frame.

However, using a DVD player for video presentations is a bit of a palaver since you have to organise the images into the order you want them to be shown then burn the files to disc. It would be far easier and quicker to copy the images to a laptop and connect that to the projector. It’s not an expensive option either with quite well specified models now selling for less than £300.

In addition to better picture quality you will have much more control over how and when images are shown and if you use a presentation program like PowerPoint, for example, you can make a really professional job of it. But even if you don’t want to go to those lengths simple sideshow utilities like the one in Picasa, for example, or even Windows built-in Picture and Fax Viewer make it easier to organise your pictures, add captions, background music or commentary and so on. 

Q. I would like to edit the ‘auto tips’, which appear in Word when I type the date. Some are useful but others are a nuisance. For instance, often when I press Return after a date I get a numerical date in a US format, which I then have to delete.  Is there a way of amending them?

Kathryn Willig

A. AutoComplete Tips, to give it its full name can be quite handy if properly configured and reading between the lines I suspect you might use the Auto Date feature, if it was in the correct format. If so go to Date and Time on the Insert menu and change it to your preferred layout.

Any changes made by AutoComplete are easily undone by pressing Ctrl + Z (the Ctrl + Z undo function works in most Windows programs). You can edit list of changes and insertions AutoComplete can make for you by going to Insert > AutoText > AutoText, click the AutoText tab. To switch it off completely deselect ‘Show AutoComplete Tips for AutoText and Dates’.

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© R. Maybury 2006, 2208