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FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 131 (14/10/98)
TRANSFER
LIST
Help!
I want to use my PC to design and print some waterslide transfers using an
Epsom 600. This would of course require the appropriate material to print on.
Such is either extremely elusive, or simply does not exist. Experience of your
page suggests that you are most likely to know the answer.
Deryck
Coleman
A
Flattery
will get you everywhere… The paper you seek does exist; we hadn't heard of it
before but a quick search on the Internet revealed a number of sources. It
turns out that it's used in the pottery industry for prototyping designs. Have
a word with Tullis Russell Brittains of Stoke-On-Trent; they manufacture A3 and
A4 sizes, which sells in packs of 50 for approximately £1.20 a sheet. They can
be reached on (01782) 202567 or visit their web site at:
http://www.brittains.co.uk
PREFERENTIAL
TREATMENT
The
staff at my local primary school are having to waste valuable teaching time
restoring the settings on Windows 95 PCs after the more computer-literate
children have altered them and thus rendered software inoperable. The problem
seems to stem from two facilities: the 'Settings' option on the Start-Up menu and
the 'Preferences' option when right-clicking on the desktop. Is there any way
of either removing, hiding or locking-out these facilities? If so, how do
legitimate users access them, and how can they be restored later if required?
One method that has been suggested for the 'Settings' option is to delete the
Control Panel icon from the Start-Up folder using Windows Explorer, but I am
nervous of this and it also does not address the 'Preferences' problem.
Roger
Cliffe
A
It
can be a real headache. Windows 95 is very poorly protected against determined
or even casual tinkering. The good news is that there are several solutions,
though be warned, some of them will involve editing the Registry files on your
PCs. Rather than go into too much
detail here and give the game away, (we haven't the room in any case), you
should pay a visit to the web site of a fellow sufferer -- also in the teaching
profession -- who has put together a very useful selection of advice, tips and
links. http://www.cadvision.com/Home_
Pages/accounts/redicks/security.htm
BACK
TOGETHER
I
read with interest your reply 'Drive Time' F!F!F! Sept 24th, regarding R.
Davies who has a partitioned hard disc drive. I have a 6.2-gigabyte drive,
fitted and split by a repair shop. I now run Windows 98, would you please
advise how one combines the partitions back to one C: drive?
Graham
Stanborough
A
You
need to run the FAT 32 Drive Converter utility that you will find by clicking
on the Start button, then Programs, and Accessories and finally System Tools.
DRIVE
TIME
My
apologies for what is no doubt a silly question, but please tell a beginner if
all CD-ROMs are loaded on to the hard disk? Afterwards is the disc no longer used,
or do some programs require the disc to be left in the CD-ROM drive?
William
Ryan
A
Don't
apologise, you wouldn't need to ask if software and hardware companies stopped
assuming that all of their customers were computer experts and started providing
clearly-written instructions, in everyday English... CD-ROMS are used in several
ways. The most common application is as a convenient carrier for large programs
-- too big to fit easily on floppy discs -- for downloading onto your hard disc
drive. Once the program has loaded the CD-ROM is normally removed and stored in
a safe place or until it is needed again, (the program will ask you to load it
into the drive). Secondly they are used as a repository for large amounts of data
or information, such as an encyclopaedia. In this case the CD-ROM usually loads
a small access program from the CD-ROM onto the PCs hard disc drive the first
time it is used. The CD-ROM disc only needs to be in the drive when you want to
retrieve information. Whilst it is possible to load the entire contents of a reference
CD-ROM on to a hard disc drive, this could swallow up 650Mb of space, which
would be rather wasteful.
RECENT
MEMORIES
Last
week you published a letter from someone who had the very real concern about
removing personal information from a computer before disposing of the machine. I
faced a similar problem when leaving my last job as I occasionally used the computer
in my office for personal work. The
company had no objection to my doing this but, in order to ensure the privacy
of my data, I always kept the files on a diskette rather than on the computer's
hard disk. However, I discovered (luckily)
just before my departure that Windows 95 creates a copy of every document
opened, even from a diskette, in a nasty little folder called 'Recent'. The computer in my new office is similarly
configured.
Can
I disable whatever utility copies my files into this folder?
Ian
Bradley
A
You
can relax; Windows is only trying to be helpful. The items listed in the Recent
and Documents folders are not copies of your files but shortcuts to them. In
other words they tell the PC where to find them; providing you haven't enabled
any backup options, that might have saved a copy of your work to the C: drive,
then the original documents will only ever exist on diskette. Try clicking on a
Recent or Document listing with the source disc removed, and see what happens.
LOCKED
OUT
I
used to get a bleep from my PC (not from the speakers) when I selected Caps Lock,
and another tone when I came off capitals. Somehow I have lost it and would
like to get it back but can't work out how. I have Windows 95 and Microsoft
Works.
Mr
W F MacFarlane
A
That
option is included in Accessibility Options, which you will find in the Control
Panel (Start then Settings). It is listed under 'Toggle Keys' on the Keyboard
tab. Once set it can be enabled and disabled by holding down the Num Lock key
for longer than 5 seconds; try that first in case you have accidentally
switched it off.
WHERE
THERE'S A WILL…
I
have loaded my will into my PC, which operates under Windows 98. I used Imaging
for Windows to scan it in and then made some annotations. It is saved as a file called Docswill. How
can I screen it from casual visitors?
Is it possible to add a password to this file? Could I open a new folder
or file, secured by a password, and then transfer the pages of my will?
Stewart
Duncan
A
The
trouble is with any scheme that simply denies access to a file is that there
are many different ways of looking inside 'protected' folders. The only sure way
to keep it secret would be to scramble or encrypt the contents. However, since
you only want to deter 'casual' snoopers you could give your will file an
innocuous or dull-sounding name, and bury it deep within a large application,
where it would never be found by accident. If you want to encrypt your files
you will find a good selection of freeware security utilities at: http://freeware.intrastar.net/privacy.htm
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