FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 044 (18/02/97)

FILE SECURITY

My PC, which contained confidential financial data, was stolen in a recent burglary. My concern is that a clever thief could make use of this information. Is there a simple way of creating a password, which would deny access?

A.C.H., Chorley

A

Yes, you can stop a PC from booting up, and prevent access to files, using various password and PIN protected facilities in the machine’s BIOS and operating system software, but if someone steals your machine, there are several relatively simple ways for them to get at information stored on the hard disc. The only really secure way to protect files is to encrypt them, making them completely incomprehensible. Files remain scrambled until the correct ‘key’ is used, to run a decrypt routine. This should put off all but the most determined and ingenious villains. There’s plenty of good encryption software on the market, including a fair amount of shareware. You can download free evaluation copies of ‘Encrypt It’ and ‘Secure It’ for Windows 3.x/95 from the following web sites: http://www.maedae.com/encr31.htmland http://207.90.195.196.80/kdp/issol/

COMBINED FORCE?

I recently bought an Opus Pentium Pro. I am now thinking about buying a combined printer, fax, copier & scanner. Are they any good, which is the best make, and are prices likely to fall in the near future?

R.L.A.L.

A

You know what they say about Jacks-of-all-Trades... The scanners on combi units are usually fairly low resolution, and in black and white. Moreover, copy quality tends to be quite poor, especially on models that use thermal fax paper or inkjet printing systems. Plain-paper multi-function fax/printer-scanners are still rather expensive. Separate, purpose-designed fax machines and PC peripherals generally perform much better and have more facilities, and if one device goes wrong, you won’t loose the rest of your system. In their favour they are convenient, and do save space. As far as prices are concerned, like most other PC peripherals, and office equipment in general, the trend is for improved specification with steady or falling prices.

FAX FOIBLES

Being of fairly advanced years the acquisition of a Samsung SF800 fax machine was a highlight in our lives, and has proved very useful for booking holidays, and ordering goods. One particular number that I would like to use appears unobtainable and the machine shows a ‘Comms Error’ message every time I try it. The number belongs to the busy office of an ex-Services organisation. A friend suggests their machine might be ‘incompatible’. Does this mean my machine, or theirs is below par, and can the problem be addressed?

G.M.P., Isle of Wight

A

The SF800 is a current model, compliant with international standard ‘Group 3’ protocols. In other words it is fully compatible with all fax machines, even ancient ones, that use the now defunct Group 2 system. The fact that your  machine works with other faxes proves there’s nothing wrong with it, or your BT line. The problem must lie with the receiving fax machine -- assuming it is connected  -- or their line. Try phoning them, to find out if their machine is switched on, plugged in and working.

AMI-CABLE?

I have recently changed to Windows 95 with MS Office and Word. My previous word processing software was Lotus AmiPro, which I still find easier and more efficient than Word. My problem is that I have a lot of training material, including charts and graphics, in AmiPro which I need for my work. I have kept it all intact on a separate hard disc. Clearly this is a waste of space and I would like to use just one system, namely Word. However, I can find no way of importing AmiPro graphics into Word, though many other conversions seem to be supported. Is there a solution, or will I be forced to reject Word and revert to AmiPro?

D.C., London NW11

A

It can be done, we think, but without knowing which software versions you’re using it’s difficult to be absolutely sure. If you have AmiPro 3.1 or higher then you have the option to save files -- graphics included --  as Word 6 documents. We spoke to Microsoft who told us that if you’re using AmiPro 3.0 or higher and Word 6 or 7, then you can use object linking and embedding (OLE) to import graphics into Word. A technical spokesperson at Lotus also confirmed that should be possible, but he hadn’t tried it, and reckoned it might be tricky. Let us know how you get on, and we’ll pass on any other suggestions.