FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  586 (23/10/07)

Q. I do not own a scanner - mainly due to space, but I do have a couple of digital cameras, which I have used to take copies of important documents. This all works very well, but I do miss the ability to do Optical Character Recognition on these images. Is there a free OCR program out there that could be used to convert these images to text?

Andrew Peaty, via email

A. There is and I have been very impressed with a freeware program called TopOCR, which is designed for use with digital cameras, camera phones and other imaging devices, as well as scanners. I have got very good results from photographs, though it is important to tweak the image first, to increase the contrast, and like all OCR software it won’t reading fancy fonts or handwriting. Scanned data can be exported as a plain or rich text format (.txt/.rtf), PDF or HTML files.

Q. I have an IBM ThinkPad laptop running Windows XP. I've recently started using USB memory sticks, however, when I plug one of them in, a balloon appears saying: ‘This device can run faster…’. I follow the instructions but, being a complete bozo as regards USB, I can't do much about it!

Chas Hobson, via email

A. This message basically says if you update the drivers on your PC USB2.0 devices should run a little quicker. This is a fairly straightforward job and you should find the right driver for your machine and some instructions on the IBM support site. However, the improvements are likely to be fairly small, unless you are moving lots of large files to and from USB modules or you plan on using peripherals that benefit from USB 2.0 connectivity, such as external hard drives, video input/output devices and high-end scanners and printers.

If you just want to keep things simple and make the message go away then all you have to do is open Device Manager (Winkey +Break > Hardware > Device Manager). Double-click on Universal Serial Bus Controllers to expand the branch, right-click on each 'USB Host Controller' entry in turn, select the Advanced tab and deselect 'Don't tell me about US Errors'.

Q. I recently had to take my PC in for repair. When I got it back, the technician said that he noticed that I was running a commercial Registry cleaner program and warned me to stop using it immediately, because it could corrupt the Registry. I asked him if he could recommend a suitable cleaner, but he replied that they were all dangerous. Is this really true, because I have read a number of recommendations for such programs in computer magazines?

Garry Field, Woking

A. I think the tech is being a tad alarmist. A cynic might even say that people trying to fix their own PCs could put him out of business. Nevertheless, there is some validity in his advice. The Windows Registry is a vitally important collection of system files and small changes can have far-reaching effects, up to an including making a PC inoperable. There are also a number of rogue Registry cleaners that generate false positives in an attempt to scare you into buy other probably equally useless products or services, so you need to be on your guard.

As regular readers will know I have been recommending RegSeeker for several years and in addition to being completely free, it also does a pretty good job of clearing out the clutter, hopefully making your PC run a little smoother. The other major plus point is that it automatically backs up the Registry, before making any changes, so in the unlikely event that something does go wrong, it can be easily fixed.

Q. There is no sound when using the Caps Lock key, even though I've checked the 'Use Toggle Keys' (Start > Control Panel > Accessibility Options - Keyboard tab). I would be grateful for further advice

Peter Gunn, via email

A. The bleep, and I have to say it’s not very loud, is piped through the PC’s small internal speaker. However, it’s not unknown for manufacturers and system builders to forget to connect it, or leave it out altogether, which may be what has happened in your case. You could check the connections to the speaker but it’s much easier to install a little freeware utility, like First Cap, which generates an audible alert for the Caps and Num Lock keys, and this will be heard through your PC’s main speakers.

Q. When I copy photos from my camera to the computer they are transferred in the correct order, that is to say, the order in which they were taken. However, I have also been using a card reader and this transfers the pictures in a random sequence.  I have tried two different card readers and they both do the same. Presumably, therefore, it is my PC, which is causing this.  Is there something that I have to do or can do to get the card reader to put the photos on in sequential order?

Ken Brown, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE21 6HS

A. This kind of query crops up on a fairly regular basis so here’s a quick recap on the way Windows displays files. When you open a folder in Computer, Windows Explorer or My Computer the files are usually ordered alphabetically or numerically, but there are many other ways. They could be in chronological order, or according to file type, the size of the file and so on.

To select the order or criteria all you have to do is click on the label at the top of the column you are interested in. It’s a ‘toggle’ action, so if you click again it will reverse the order. For example, if you click the Name column header the files will be ordered A to Z, click again and it switches to Z to A. All of the column labels work this way, and you can add extra ones, or remove those you don’t need by right-clicking on the label bar.

If you have a computer problem write to: fff@telegraph.co.uk

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© R. Maybury 2007 0210