FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  550 (30/01/07)

Q. I understand it is possible to turn the display on my screen sideways or upside down. How do I do this?

Stephen Bywater, via email

A. The facility to rotate the monitor display is fairly common nowadays but it all depends on your PC’s graphics adaptor or video card. If your PC is fitted with an Nvidia or ATI adaptors try the ‘screen rotate’ keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + up/left cursor arrow. Otherwise look in Display Properties, which you can get to by right clicking on the desktop. Select Properties then the Settings tab, click the Advanced button and look for a tab relating to your video adaptor. Click it and this should open up a utility, which may or may not contain the option to rotate the display. Display utilities can also turn up on the All Programs list or in Control Panel.

Q. I have a wireless connection setup on my broadband and my children have laptops but I am worried that they can be on the Internet 24/7. Is there anything on the market, like a timer, which will limit their access to the Internet?

S. Harden, via email

A. You may already have this option built into your wireless router or hub. Check the manual or open the configuration menu and see if there are any ‘Access Control’ or timer functions. Otherwise you will need to install some software on each of your children’s laptops. There are plenty of parental control programs to choose from, including CyberSitter and NetNanny, but before you shell out for a commercial program you might like to test-drive a freeware application called PC Sitter Lite This has most of the features you are looking for and you can’t argue with the price!

Q. I recently had to perform a rebuild of my Windows ME system but when I tried to download a copy of ZoneAlarm I was informed that there are now no versions available for ME. Can you recommend a suitable replacement?

John Rieley, via email

A. I am not aware of any freeware or commercial firewalls that support Windows 9x (95, 98, SE & ME). Although these operating systems are now officially obsolete it needn’t be a problem. Windows XP is now a much more tempting target for hackers and malware, but more importantly Firewalls do not require regular updates. They perform one relatively simple task, which is to police and protect your Internet connection. If you still have a copy of the installation files for the version of ZoneAlarm you were using previously there’s nothing to stop you reinstalling that. Older versions of the Kerio Personal Firewall, which is suitable for ME is still available from many web download sites (just Google ‘Kerio 2.1.5’).

Q. When I close down my PC at night a dialogue box always appears that says 'PTAWIA is closing down'. Could you tell me what this means and is it significant?

John Martin, Wirral

A. I am not sure what the PTA pat stands for but WIA is almost certainly a reference to Windows Image Acquisition, which is a set of drivers used by digital cameras and scanners. This is almost certainly a background ‘service’ for Kodak’s Easyshare software, which has a tendency to hang during shutdown. You don’t need it and you can disable it by going to Run on the Start menu and type ‘msconfig’ (without the quotes). Select the Startup tab and look for a reference to Kodak Easyshare on the list. Uncheck the item and restart the PC. In the extremely unlikely event it causes problems you can re-enable it using the same procedure.

Q. I have just signed up with a new ISP but each time I try to get on the internet the following message appears: ‘Error 775: The call was blocked by the remote computer’. I have recreated the dial-up setting but still get the same error. I am wondering if the recent removal of several Trojans by my antivirus program has corrupted the Registry. How can I repair the Registry, as I do not have an XP Home CD?

M. Armstrong

A. I don’t think you need to worry about deleted Trojans or Registry corruption. The 775 remote computer blocking message usually relates to a connection problem. Normally it’s something straightforward and your modem is dialling the wrong number, so check that first. You should also make sure that your username and password have been entered correctly, and finally that there are no problems at your ISP’s end. It could be something as basic as your account hasn’t been activated, or you have been given the wrong details.

Q. Could you recommend a good scanner, but not too expensive, so that I can transfer my hundreds of slides on to discs. I want to be able to scan old negatives before they deteriorate and preserve them for the family who are all interested in our family history.

Mrs Jean Haizelden, via email

A. Ironically your slides probably stand a better chance of being accessible to future generations. Properly stored they can last 100 years or more, and you don’t need any special equipment to view them. On the other hand the data on CDs, DVD and memory modules may only be readable for 50 years, assuming that PCs in the future have optical drives and USB ports; look what happened to floppies and 5.25-inch disks...

But I digress, and once your images are in the digital domain they can be endlessly copied to the prevailing format of the day. A dedicated slide scanner is the most efficient way of digitising large numbers of slides but they can be fairly expensive and prices start at around £100. If you are on a tight budget then your best bet would be a flatbed scanner, like the HP Scanjet 4370, which sells online for around £60. This model is optimised for copying photographs and comes with a twin-slide carrier, so you can scan 2 slides at a time. 

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© R. Maybury 2007 2301