FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  581 (04/09/07)

Q. I have a small and annoying problem with Outlook Express that is driving me to distraction?  All of my mailboxes have a column, which shows the time and date the message was Sent or Received, but the date only shows the day, not the actual date, so they look like this: Tuesday September 17:56.  I cannot find anything in Outlook Express to rectify the situation do you have any ideas?

Lee Bradbury, via email

A. Outlook Express, like most programs on your PC that use time and date references, takes its cue from Windows settings. I’m not sure which time and date format you are using but you should set it to the standard UK layout, which is dd/mm/yyyy. To do that go to Start > Control Panel > Regional and Language Settings and on the Regional Options tab make sure that English (United Kingdom) is selected on the drop-down menu. Check that the examples shown in the Long and Short Date format boxes are correct. If not it may be that someone has set up a non-standard date format, in which case click the Customise button, select the Date tab and edit the Long Date box to read ‘dd MMMM yyyy’ without the quotes.

Q. I use two XP computers, a desktop and a laptop and lately the laptop (and to a lesser extent the desktop PC) has developed the annoying habit of suddenly shutting down either immediately after boot-up or even in the middle of use. Can you enlighten me with a reason for this, and also suggest a cure?

Ray Jackson, via email

A. There’s no single cause – in fact there are many possibilities – and I don’t think the two machine’s behaviour is connected in any way, it’s just an unfortunate coincidence.

The place to start with unexpected shutdown problems is the Windows Event Viewer, which tracks all manner of problems with the System, and occasionally pinpoints a cause. Open Control Panel and go to Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools (or just Administrative Tools in XP Pro), double click the Event Viewer then System Log. Scroll sideways to bring the Event column into view and look down the list for number 1075. (To save time click the Event column header, to sort the column into numerical order). Double click each instance of a 1075 Event and you should see a brief explanation of what happened, possibly with a link to a Microsoft Knowledgebase article or further help.

Other possibilities include cooling problems – a slow or stalled fan can lead to overheating and the CPU shutting down to protect itself. Dicky memory modules can also do this, and try pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select the Applications tab to see if it only happens when a particular program or application is running.

Q. I have no TV but use a large laptop that is almost 4 years old to view DVDs, piping the sound through my stereo. It works fine except that I'd like to buy a cheap region-free DVD player to allow me to watch the latest HBO series before their UK release.

How do I connect a video output from an external DVD player to a fairly conventional PC that doesn't have DVI or HDMI socket? This must be a region free solution.

Steve Holmes, Witney

A. Using your laptop screen as a video display for an external source isn’t especially difficult, providing it has a USB socket. A device like the Adaptec VideOh! Video input adaptor is probably your best bet and you should be ale to pick one up online for less than £20 (Amazon UK currently has them for £15.99). Simply install the supplied software then connect one end to the composite video output socket on your DVD player (normally colour-coded yellow) and plug the other end into your laptop’s USB socket. There are no issues with region coding with this kind of setup since you will be using a region-free DVD player, which plays discs from any country.

Q. I use both AVG (free version) and Spyware Terminator. AVG has just identified a Spyware Terminator update as a Trojan (Generic5.wuf).

Could Spyware Terminator really have been infected, or is it possible that AVG is in error? I Googled "Generic5.wuf", and it returned no results at all. If this really were a virus, wouldn't there be reference to it somewhere in all the countless billions of Internet entries - not least on AVG's own site?

Peter Simon, via email

A. The normally very reliable Spywarewarrior includes Spyware Terminator on its list of rogue and suspect products, though I do not think this has anything to do with it carrying a malicious payload or generating ‘false positives’, but other unrelated issues.

I can find no mention of it conflicting with AVG, or the Generic5.wuf alert so I suspect this is a one-off, caused by a glitch in one of the two programs. I would uninstall them both – and make sure you delete AVG’s virus signature libraries, then reinstall AVG, get that up and running, do a full system check, and then reinstall Spyware Terminator. If the problem persists try running one of the free malware cleaners, like A-Squared, AdAware and SpyBot and see what they come up with. You’ll find links to all of them in the Software section of the PCTopTips website

Q. I have Windows XP Home and Office 2003.  I want to print labels from a database.  However although I followed the instructions in Help and although Mail Merge shows it is greyed out. Does my software not include this feature? 

Brian Beard, via email

A. It should work though Mail Merge can be a bit awkward and Word Help can sometimes make things appear a lot more complicated than they actually are. For a simple to step-by-step guide to have a look at this tutorial on the Wellesley College website 

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© R. Maybury 2007 2808