FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 168 (01/07/99)

BURNING QUESTION

In F!F!F! of 10th June, you stated that 'screen-burn... doesn't affect flat-panel, liquid-crystal display screens'. However, having seen a relatively new (less than two years old) laptop with Windows' Minimise/Maximise/Close button images persistently superimposed upon the top right corner of the screen, it would seem that there is some similar process to CRT 'burn-in' at work on TFT displays.
Paul Battley

A

The effect you describe is not screen burn as such, it is caused by crystals in the display developing a kind of memory and not realigning themselves when the screen is switched off. Fortunately it is not permanent and eventually the latent image should disappear.

LOST LION FOUND?
I think Colette House (Lost Lion F!F!F! June 17th) is looking for the 'Dangerous Creatures' theme, which can be selected from the drop-down list. Different parts of the theme can be previewed, and activated by clicking 'Apply' or 'OK'. If it is a Desktop Themes screensaver, the files should be found under C:\Program Files\Plus!\Themes.

Christopher Poulton

 

I don't know if this is what you're referring to, but you can get similar screensavers at the following address: www.drawinghand.com
Alyn Davies

A

Thanks to everyone who drew our attention to the Dangerous Creatures Themes included in the Microsoft Plus Pack (bundled with Windows 98). However, at the risk of sounding pedantic and in reply to those few unkind individuals who berated us for not knowing the whereabouts of the beast, the image referred to is actually a Puma or a Mountain lion, and static wallpaper, not a screensaver.

COY CALC

I have Windows 98 and the other day wanted to use the Windows calculator that I had used, occasionally, in both Windows 95 and Windows 3.1, but couldn't find it. Has it been dropped or is it simply hidden? I would value your help in re-locating it or can you tell me where I can find a simple calculator on the Internet.
Mark Kaplan

A

The Calculator is included in Windows 98, it normally resides in Start > Programs > Accessories, but it sounds as though yours wasn't loaded when your operating system was installed. To put it on to your system you will need your original Windows 98 CD-ROM, open Control Panel (Start > Settings), click on Add/Remove Programs, select the Windows Setup tab, double click the Accessories icon, put a tick next to Calculator and follow the instructions. By the way, there are hundreds of freeware and shareware calculators on the Internet, covering just about every application you care to name (biorhythms, golf handicap, Euro currency conversion, time and distance, scientific etc.) you'll find a huge selection at: www.download.com, just type 'calculators' in the Search field.

LOST JOURNAL

I merge information from Access database records into Word documents, these database records and merged documents end up creating numerous journal entries in Outlook - all resolved – or so I thought on spotting your recent response to the query about the slow shutdown of MS Word (F!F!F! May 20th). However on following your instructions I hit a problem, in my Options on the Tools menu there is no Journal tab. How do I get rid of journal entries without a Journal tab and how can I prevent it happening in the future?
Dan Walker

A

It is highly unlikely that the Journal Tab has disappeared. According to Microsoft there are no known bugs that could make this happen, you probably have the later version of Outlook where the Journal tab has been relocated under 'Preferences'. 

MISSING MOVIES

I recently bought a movie on DVD. My computer has a DVD drive but does not play the movie because the file format is unsupported. Could you tell me what I need to be able to view the movie?
Fawaz Abdulla

A

In order to play DVD Video discs on your PC it must also be fitted with an MPEG-2 decoder card. These cost from around £60 and are available from most PC dealers. Check first that you have a spare PCI slot on the motherboard and be sure to tell them what make and model DVD drive you have since you may need an extra connecting cable. Software 'decoders' are also becoming available but they are not yet as good and are designed to work on fast machines with bucket loads of memory.

ON REFLECTION…
Advice please. I have installed a Phantom 330CX colour scanner. B/W text is produced as "mirror image writing" and the pictures are back to front! The installation guide and Scan Wizard Help do not mention the problem. It may be a simple answer, but not to this old Gent...

Ny & Brian Collins

A

It sounds as though the 'Horizontal Mirror' mode has been inadvertently enabled. It can be switched on and off from the Preferences menu, simply click on the menu item, the tick next to it should disappear and hopefully everything will be the right way around from then on. If you are still having problems give the Microtek Total Care Helpline (it's free) a call on 0181 380 6661.

POLISHED OFF

With regards to A E Wilmot's problem with Polish character sets and Stephen Whistlecraft's answer about using International Language Support, I would also like to suggest that A E Wilmot should save his money. He can do without a new keyboard. (Besides – swapping between two different keyboards can be a bit of a pain - even if it is a USB one).

Try a spot of lateral thinking! Simply select the Polish keyboard layout and 'Type' all the characters 'as seen' into a new document - i.e. type four lines of text, the first one starting ^1234 etc., the second - qwerty and so on. Then do the same with the shift key held down (or use caps lock). Use a larger typeface of course - 20 point is fine. Now print this document out and peg it somewhere where you can see it while typing your letter to Poland.
Chris Brisland

A

Thanks for that handy hint

DCC NBG?
I followed your steps in Boot Camp a while back to set up a direct cable connection between two computers using a parallel cable between the two printer ports. This didn't work and my friend says that I need a serial cable between two COM ports. Is this right? Alternatively, I'm looking for a program that will enable me to connect the two computers running Windows 95 through a parallel cable so I can transfer files from one to the other. My final option is to use a long IDE cable to connect the hard drive in one computer to the IDE ports in the other computer's motherboard.  Would this work?
James Housley

A

It is worth persevering with DCC, it does work but not with an ordinary parallel cable, it has to be a Parallel Interlink or LapLink type. A serial cable DCC link using the PC's COM ports is also worth a go but it is a lot slower and you must use a Serial Null Modem cable. The IDE cable connection is novel idea but we suspect you may encounter problems with data corruption if it is longer than a metre or so. You could physically move the drive into the first PC and set it up as a 'slave' or a second drive. If the files are not too large try 'compressing' them with a program like WinZip and move them across on floppy discs. If all else fails there are data transfer programs like LapLink, but they can be quite expensive. 

MANUAL SOLUTION
I recently downloaded information from a company on the Internet and was given the choice of placing this on hard disc or floppy disc. I chose the latter and discover this to have an extension 'pdf'. When I try to open the file an error message appears 'win32 cannot open this file'. How do I open this up?
Mike Phillips

A

PDF or portable document format files are widely used to distribute long texts and documents, such as instruction manuals. In order to read the files you need a PDF file viewer such as Adobe Acrobat; this can be downloaded from: http://www.adobe.com/