FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  535 (17/10/06)

Q. Using Outlook Express 6, clicking on underlined links in email results in a ping sound but the links do not link anymore. I have to copy and paste into Internet Explorer to reach the websites. Is there a (reasonably straightforward) way to re-establish the links process?

F. Baker, via email

A. Several readers have written in about this one in the past couple of weeks; I’m not sure why it has happened but I suspect there is a common thread somewhere, possibly a recent Windows or program update. Fortunately the solution is simple enough but it’s a bit long-winded.

Open My Computer or Windows Explorer then go to View > Folder Options > File Types. Scroll down the Registered Files Types list until you get to URL:Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Click to highlight then click the Advanced button. In the Actions window double click ‘Open’ and in the ‘Application used to perform action’ box there should be the following command:

“C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe” -nohome (with the quotes)

If you are using Firefox the command should look like this:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" %1 (again with all the quotes)

Now repeat the steps with: URL:Hypertext Transfer Protocol with Privacy, URL:Hypertext Transfer Protocol and URL:Gopher Protocol. Afterwards, when you start Internet Explorer you may see a message saying that it is ‘not currently the default browser’, in which case do not click Yes, just exit the box.

Q. I have replaced my desktop PC and the new machine has a serial ATA Hard Disk. The motherboard has a single IDE connector on the motherboard, which is used by the DVD drive. I would like to add a second hard drive from my old desktop computer, but this drive has the older parallel ATA/IDE interface (I think!). Is it possible to slave a hard disk drive off a DVD drive, or is it best to buy an enclosure and run it as a USB external drive?

David Ward, via email

A. Each IDE channel supports two drives, so yes, you could connect your old hard drive to the DVD cable, just make sure that it is set to ‘Slave’ mode by repositioning the jumpers on the rear of the drive casing. Another solution, and one that we adopted on the DT Mk II computer (see Boot Camp 440), was to install a PCI ATA/IDE controller card. This provides two additional IDE connectors each capable of supporting two hard drives. They are readily available and typically cost between £10 and £15 from online vendors.

Q. I am running Windows 98SE, and seem to recall that it can't address any more than about 130Gb on a HDD. I ran into trouble some time ago when I had a second HDD of 160Gb installed on my PC, and partitioned it into four 40Gb logical drives. The drive eventually crashed and I lost a lot of data. I replaced the drive with another 160Gb HDD and formatted it into three 40Gb drives, ignoring the last 40Gb, and have had had no trouble since.

I then bought a USB2 external HDD case, and installed the original, reformatted, 160 GB drive in it, to use as additional data storage for my digital photos. It is partitioned into three 40 GB logical drives, with 40 GB unused. I don't want to format the remaining space if it is liable to crash the disk with all of my photos on it. However, it means
that there is an unused 40Gb on the disk. Is there a limit to the usable space that can be accessed by an external USB port, or am I still limited to 130 GB?

I know that I need to upgrade my OS to a newer version to eliminate these size limitations but Windows 98 does nearly everything I need at the moment.  However, your series on the DT 2 PC is very tempting…
Mike Isaacs, via email

A. Over the years hard disc drive storage capacity has frequently leapfrogged PC’s and operating system’s ability to handle it. There is a problem in Windows 98, due to something called the 48-bit Logical Block Addressing (LBA) limit, which restricts partitions to a maximum of 137.4Gb, but I think in your case the difficulty lies with the BIOS (Basic Input Output System). This is the program that tests and configures your PC’s hardware immediately after you switch it on. Many older BIOS’s have a 137Gb drive size limit, also due to an LBA barrier.

The size limitations won’t apply to an external USB drive but I caution you that hard drives taken out of their natural environment can be unreliable, due to lack of effective cooling and the greatly increased risk of shock damage.

You can still install the drive inside the PC case, where it belongs. It may be possible to update the BIOS, check the motherboard manufacturer’s web site. The majority of hard disc drive manufacturers have developed utilities that fool the PC into ignoring the size limit; you will find it on the drive manufacturer’s web site, or you could install a separate hard drive controller card -- see the reply to the above query.  

Q. There are many royalty free sites on the web to obtain ready-made GIF animations from. I used to be able to save them but for some inexplicable reason a right click and Save Image As now only gives me the option of a BMP file. No changes have been made to any Internet Explorer settings. A Google search regarding the problem advises clearing Temporary Internet Files folder and ensuring that "Do not save encrypted pages to disk" is cleared under Internet Options > Advanced. Both have been done and checked, and the system re-booted to no avail.

Nev Hazelwood, Somerset

A. According to Microsoft Knowledgebase article 810978 it is caused by a damaged Java or Active X object and part of the solution is to clear Temporary Internet files, However, it goes on to suggest deleting files in the Downloaded Program Files folder that are listed as ‘Damaged’ or ‘Unknown’ in the Status column, and I suspect that you missed out this step. If the fault persists Microsoft recommends deleting all of the files listed in Downloaded Programs; this is not a problem and you will be prompted to download them the next time they are needed by Internet Explorer.  

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© R. Maybury 2006, 0310