FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  591 (27/11/07)

Q. We have a new PC running Vista Home Premium. Windows Mail is fine except that we cannot open links in emails. If you type in the URL in the address bar it works. We can’t find an option that allows you to select or deselect links?  What have we missed?

Howard James, via email

A. When this happens in XP you go into Windows Explorer and File Types in Folder Options on the Tools menu and change a few settings but in Vista File Types has been replaced by a utility called Default Programs. You will find it in Control Panel; click on it and choose ‘Set your default programs’. In the Programs list select Windows Mail then click ‘Choose defaults for this program’ then click Set this program as default. Now click the Back button and select ‘Associate a file type or protocol with a program’. Scroll down the list to Protocols and the items, ‘HTTP’ and ‘HTTPS’ should be associated with your browser, listed in the Current Default column. If not highlight HTTP, click the Change Program’ button, select your browser, click OK and repeat for HTTPS.

Q. Outlook Express was working perfectly until last month when I received a message. Every time I highlighted it Outlook Express stated ‘Not responding…’.  This also happened on two more messages received a week later, from different senders. All other emails open without problems.

I am left with three messages that crash OE, I have got around it by hiding them but I want a permanent way to delete them.

Tracey Shaw, via email

A. The message files are almost certainly corrupt and if you can’t manually drag them into the Deleted Items folder try this workaround. Create a new folder and copy all of your wanted messages into it, leaving just the rogue ones behind. Close OE and open your Message Store folder using Windows Explorer. It’s normally in: C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{GUID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express. (GUID or ‘Global Unique Identifier’, a long string of characters). Delete the Inbox.dbx file, the next time you open OE a new empty Inbox will be recreated and you can move your messages back into it.

Q. I have a broadband wireless router hooked on to my main PC. For a second PC, which is a few rooms and walls away I use a USB wireless adapter, but I am having difficulties getting an Internet connection. The adapter says it has a good to very good connection but I can’t get web pages to load. The only way I can connect is to use a mains extension cord and move the second PC a few feet closer to the main PC. My service guy suggests I upgrade the router to a more powerful model with 3 antennas, which will carry the signal further. Any comments?

Menachem Fruchter, via email

A. Wi-Fi signal strength displays are at best only a rough guide so I wouldn’t put too much store by that and by moving the second PC closer to the router you have proved that it is a signal strength problem.

Another router might solve the problem, though changing the adaptor might be even more effective, and a lot cheaper too, but before you rush out and buy anything there are a couple of things you can try.  An external antenna on the router will definitely help. They cost around £15 and plug into the socket used by the integral antenna. Try mounting it high up on a wall, or as close to the room with the other PC as the cable allows.

Some USB adaptors can also be fitted with external antennas, if not you can make a rough and ready DIY one using a length of thin insulated wire, around 1 – 2 metres long. Wrap a couple of turns around the body of the adaptor and tape it in place then pin or tape the other end of the wire high up on a wall, and see if that makes any difference.

Q. When I start my computer I get a screen with three icons for my own account, my son’s and my ex-partner. I would like to delete the latter but when I go to Control Panel > User Accounts and click ‘Delete’ for his ‘Limited’ account, nothing happens.

Holly Regan-Jones, via email

A. That’s unusual and I’m not sure why you can’t delete it from Control Panel, but you should be able to zap the account via the backdoor, as it were. Open Control Panel and this time go to Administrative Tools > Computer Management > System Tools > Local Users and Groups, double click to expand the Users folder, right-click on the account name you want to get rid of and click Delete.

Q. I bought an Acer laptop in Spain, it was installed with Vista Home Premium in Spanish, but I want to work in English. I understand that you can install a Language Interface Pack and convert Vista form one language to another. I checked the Microsoft website but there does not appear to be one for English. 

Allan Donkin, via email

A. You have done your homework, well done. As far as I’m aware there isn’t an English Language Information Pack (LIP), nor does there appear to be one in the pipeline. The only other alternative, apart from starting over and installing an English version of Vista, would be to upgrade your copy of Home Premium to the Ultimate or Enterprise Vista. You should then be able to download the more comprehensive Multilingual User Interface (MUI) pack from Microsoft and in theory this has the option to switch Vista to English. However, I haven’t tried this myself and the only references I can find to this actually working is on the Japanese edition of Vista, so only try it if you are feeling brave. I’m afraid it’s not much of a choice, though, because the upgrade will probably cost you as much as a new copy of Vista Home Premium.

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

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© R. Maybury 2007 3010