FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 112 (04/06/98)

EASY E-MAIL?

I have what I suspect is a simple problem. I have a Windows 95 PC and a long-standing account with CompuServe, which works reasonably well most of the time. I recently brought a Philips Velo Windows CE handheld PC, which I am also fairly pleased with. One of the reasons I brought it was because of the built-in modem, my intention is to be able to use it to receive and send E-mail, whilst I am abroad. However, I seem to have run up against a brick wall. Philips and CompuServe have both told me it is possible, but after many phone calls to their respective help lines I am no nearer to making it work. So far I have managed to get the Velo to call up and log on to CompuServe, and on the advice of Philips I have changed my E-mail to the POP 3 system. However, all I get, when logging on to CompuServe is a message saying no mail is waiting, even though I know there are E-mails there (I sent them, and picked them up using Netscape on my PC). It suits me to stay with CompuServe, they have good international connectivity and it would be a lot of trouble to start a new E-mail account and have to notify all of my contacts. Have you any ideas about how to make it work?

Peter Miller, Romford, Essex.

A

It would have been possible for you to retrieve E-mail on your Velo up to the point when you changed to the POP 3 mail system.  POP 3 (Post Office Protocol 3) is a widely used Internet mail standard, but when you switch from CompuServe's own proprietary mail system to POP 3, you cannot go back. Had you stayed with CompuServe mail you could have changed to the old CompuServe mail system, though they don't like doing it, and your request would have had to be in writing... It is basically an ancient terminal type system that can be accessed by the Velo. By the way, this problem applies to any handheld PC and CompuServe, including the Psion and other Windows CE machines. If you want to stay with CompuServe the only answer is to open a new account and start with a new E-mail address, otherwise you will just have to sign up with a more handheld-friendly ISP.

STUCK SHUT DOWN

I have upgraded from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95. When I shut down the computer it locks on to the 'Please wait until your computer shuts down' window. How do I fix this? I find Microsoft Internet support too tedious and unusable!

John Shaw

A

There's a very good chance this is due to a conflict between Windows 95 Advanced Power Management (APM) and the BIOS (basic input output system) software on your PC's motherboard. When APM is enabled and you shut down the PC, Windows 95 sends what's known as a 'Set PowerState off' call to the system BIOS. The correct response is switch the power off to the system, but if the BIOS doesn't recognise or support the call Windows 95 will not shut down correctly and it usually stops responding. There are two possible solutions. The first is to switch off Advanced Power Management; you will find it in Control Panel. Double click on the Power icon and disable the Power Management setting. To solve the problem permanently you need to contact your PC supplier, and ask if there's a BIOS upgrade.

FALSE START

So far I have tried three scanners and returned them all, uninstalling the software provided. However, on start up I now get a message that Windows can't find the scanner. It refers to system.ini and another file I don't recognise. I can and do 'press a key to continue' during start-up but it is a nuisance. I have now installed a HP 5100C scanner, which works, but I would like to get Windows 95 back to normal. Any help would be appreciated.

Ron Hampshire

A

It sounds as though you didn't fully uninstall those earlier scanner programs; they've left odd files and system changes behind to confuse Windows 95. Unless you are adept at editing system files it's probably easiest to use a utility program, such as CleanSweep, Uninstaller or WinDelete, which will hunt down and safely delete those orphaned files.

CleanSweep, Quarterdeck, telephone (0645) 123522, www.quarterdeck.com

Uninstaller, Cybermedia, telephone 0800 873631, www.cybermedia.com

WinDelete, IMSI, telephone 0181-581 2000, http://www.imsiuk.co.uk

COMPUSAVE

I am planning to buy a new Pentium PII computer having taken advice from

several sources, yourselves included, as to the pros and cons of upgrading

my present 486 model. Can you suggest a simple means of transferring information such as, for example, my CompuServe address book, or files saved in other applications from my old computer, running Windows for Workgroups 3.11 to the new computer running Windows 95 or, possibly,'98? I have a lot of information, which I wish to preserve but I do not want to end up having to run two computers to do this.

Bobby Foster

A

The CompuServe address file is small enough to be saved on floppy disc, and transferred to the new machine. The simple way to do it is to start Windows Explorer, double click on the CompuServe directory and look for  a folder called Support, in there you will find the Addrbook.dat file, highlight it, right click the mouse, select the Send To option and choose Floppy Disc. Repeat as necessary for any other files that will fit on a floppy. There are many ways of transferring larger files that are too big for a standard floppy disc. You can compress them, using utilities like WinZip. If both PCs have an Internet connection, send files to yourself as an E-mail or an attachment. You could buy a removable mass storage device, like a Zip, LC-120 or CD-R/W drive. You can connect the two PCs together by cable using a utility such as Laplink, or you could install the disc drive from your old 486 PC in the new machine, configure it as a slave to the main hard disc drive and copy your files across.

PICTURE THIS

It seems that all of the pictures I view on the Internet are recorded on my computer. They appear to be stored in Temporary Internet files, Windows History, Internet Cache and MGI PhotoSuite. Is there any way that I can avoid this happening and are there any other 'hidden' places where pictures or text may be stored?

Andrew Thomas, Derby

A

Internet image and text files are usually only stored once, in the browser cache, the other instances you have found are cross-references and registers of the sites you've visited. You can't easily switch off this facility, but some browsers can be set to automatically empty or limit the size of the cache, others you will have to delete manually. Look in your Browser's Options or Preferences menu. The ever-helpful Tweak UI utility has a feature called Paranoia, which will clear Explorer and Windows History files every time you log on. You'll find Tweak UI in Microsoft PowerToys, featured on PC Pro magazine's cover mount CD-ROM every month, or download it from Microsoft at: www.microsoft.com/windows/download/ powertoys.exe