FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 130 (01/10/98)

CATCHING THE BUS

I am looking for a scanner and a printer having USB interface connections. I have found a printer Epson Stylus colour 740 but cannot trace any A4 flatbed colour scanners with USB. Can you help in finding one and am I right in assuming that a USB cable is all that is needed to use these devices? Do I need two USB cables for two items or can I connect one to the other (with what type of cable?).   

Arvind Deshpande

A

The USB or universal serial bus is a comparatively recent innovation and the majority of new PCs now come with two USB sockets on the back panel. The principle advantage of USB is that it is a proper plug-and-play interface. In theory the PC automatically recognises the peripheral and there's no need to mess around with configuration settings. You should also be able to 'hot-swap', in other words you don't have to switch the PC off and re-boot when a device is plugged in. The USB interface supports up to 127 devices, and they can be 'daisy-chained', so you simply plug one device into another. USB peripherals should come with a cable, so there's no need to buy one, though they are available from PC stockists. The only thing to watch out for is that some PCs that support USB may not have the necessary backpane sockets, or if they do, they might not be connected or enabled. USB peripherals were initially slow to appear but several flatbed scanners are now available, including the Acer 610U, Hewlett Packard ScanJet 4100C and 6200C, Logitech PageScan LT002 and Umax Astra 122OU.

WIPE THE SLATE

Can anyone tell me if there is an easier and shorter way of clearing the Documents menu, instead of having to go to the Taskbar, then Start Menu etc., there must be a better way of getting rid of this annoying feature?

Helen White

A

Here's a couple of ideas. The first takes just a couple of minutes and involves writing a batch file; this is a text file containing set of simple commands. Begin by opening Explorer and creating a new folder, call it docempty or something like that. Next open Notepad (Start, Program, Accessories) and key in this line of text: 'echo y| del\windows\recent\ *.*' (omitting the quotation marks, the vertical line after y is normally on the backslash key). Now got to Save As, call the file clear.bat and save it in your docempty folder. Next, go back to Explorer, open docempty, right click on the clear.bat icon, select Send To, and Desktop As Shortcut, and an icon called 'clear' will appear on your desktop. Right click on the icon, select Properties, then the Program tab and under Run choose Minimised and put a tick in the Close on Exit box. Click OK and it's done. Before you exit Windows double click your Clear icon and the Documents folder will be emptied. 

The second method is to obtain a copy of our old friend Tweak UI; this extremely useful Windows tool kit is freeware and includes an option to clear the Document folder every time you log on to Windows. Tweak UI frequently appears on computer magazine cover mount CD-ROMs or it can be downloaded from the Microsoft web site: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ download/powertoy.exe

MISSING BRACKETS

Although I am using Word 97 I find that I cannot insert the square brackets required for the WordBasic macro, described in Boot Camp's Tip of the Week (Connected September 3rd). Is there a way of overcoming this problem as none of the keys on my keyboard carry the square bracket symbol? I have tried using insert Symbol but unfortunately Insert declines to be activated once I am in the macro mode.

Alan Turner, Knowle, Solihull

A

Copy and Paste works in macro edit and create modes. Use Symbol to insert the square bracket symbols into an empty Word document. Highlight the brackets, click on the Copy/clipboard icon or press Ctrl + C, then switch to your macro. Position the cursor and click on Paste or press Ctrl + V. If you find it easier you can even write the whole macro on a blank Word page then copy and paste it into the create macro window.

KEY QUESTIONS

Having learnt to touch type on a manual typewriter many years ago and progressed through electric typewriters to an Amstrad and now a Pentium II computer. I find the modern PC keyboard extremely frustrating. I am typing in capitals and automatically use the lower shift key to release capitals lock and what do I get? Capitals! It is difficulty to break the habit of fifty years, why was it deemed necessary to change the 'qwerty' keyboard in this way? Do you know if it is possible to release the capitals shift lock function using the ordinary shift key, like a mechanical typewriter?

Charmian King, Wadebridge, Cornwall

And, whilst we're on the subject…

I am a fast touch typist irritated by the inability of my computer to cope with any word containing double 'n'. I have to go back and put in the second 'n' and it is very annoying! Is there anything that can be done?

M. W. Streeter, Eastbourne, East Sussex

A

Sorry, we've drawn a complete blank on the caps lock question. We're not aware of any function in Windows, or any of the popular word-processing programs that will allow you to use the shift key to release caps lock. We also spoke to a couple of specialist keyboard companies, one expert commented that this was the first time he had come across such a request. It seems you are going to have to adapt to the PC's way of doing things, unless any of our ever-resourceful readers have any suggestions?

As far as double 'n's are concerned, have you tried changing the keyboard settings in Windows Control Panel? Double click on the keyboard icon and select the Speed tab. Move the sliders for Repeat Delay and Repeat Rate to the right hand side. It might be worth changing your word processor. Recent versions of Microsoft Word and Lotus Word Pro have spell-checkers with auto-correction facilities, that can be taught to automatically insert missing letters, as you type.  

FREE LUNCH…

Following the report in The Daily Telegraph about the new Dixons Freeserve Internet and E-mail system, I have obtained a CD-ROM with the free software and signed up. First impressions are very favourable.  However, a side effect is that installing the software has resulted in the 'FS' logo appearing as a watermark across the button bar of Windows Explorer.  How can I remove this unwanted graffiti?

David Bickell

A

You must know there's no such thing as a free lunch and that graffiti, as you call it, is one of the prices you have to pay for this sort of service. However, Dixons tell us that it should be easy enough to remove the Freeserve artwork and icons. They're contained in the Internet Explorer directory, in a file called Signup. The toolbar is called toolbar.bmp, and the icons on the top right of the screen are: 22.bmp, 22S.bmp, 2238.bmp and 38S.bmp. It's a good idea to rename or copy them to another file, rather than simply delete them, just in case... After you've done that you will have to re-boot Windows, and Explorer should return to its default layout.