FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 174 (12/08/99)

OPEN AND SHUT CASE
I was very impressed with the tip for opening the CD-ROM drawer with a mouse-click.  Is there a way of closing it through a similar method and getting the 'eject' function itself onto the desktop without having to go through the CD icon?
John Dean

A

There certainly is, though you will need a little utility that can be download from the Internet. There are several freeware programs to choose from. CD-Ejector puts an icon in the System Tray on the Taskbar. It is available from a number of sites including:

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/software/free/

diagnostic/sw16.html

There are two other small programs you might like to try, they are Tray CD and Open CD, both can be downloaded from:

http://www.rjlsoftware.com/

software/utility/default.shtml

PLAY CACHE

I have a Gateway 2000, PII 300 machine with 64Mb Ram and a Mitsumi multi speed CD-ROM. My problem is that the CD-ROM will start spinning, read some data and then stop spinning immediately. It then starts spinning again, reads some more data and then stops. This becomes very frustrating on some games where the picture and sound will constantly keep pausing while the drive comes 'back to life'.

Paul Wright

A

You should try increasing the size of the CD-ROM drive's supplemental cache. This is an area of memory used to temporarily store data from the disc, to reduce the amount of drive activity. Right-click on the My Computer icon then select Properties from the list to bring up the System Properties dialogue box. Select the Performance tab then under Advanced settings click on the File System button and choose the CD-ROM tab. Set the Supplemental Cache slider to 'Large' on the far right and make sure the entry in the 'Optimise access pattern for' window is correct.

BAFFLING BIN
Can you tell me why, when my recycle bin has deleted files in it, the icon shows the bin to be empty and then when I empty the recycle bin and there is nothing left, the piece of crumpled paper appears in the icon. I am very confused.
Andrew Paul

A

This can happen if you mess around with Desktop Themes. For some reason the Registry entries associated with the icons are reversed. The solution is to right-click onto an empty part of the desktop, choose Properties and select the Plus tab. Highlight the full Recycle Bin icon, select Change icon, choose the empty bin and click OK, then repeat the steps for the empty bin.

MUTE MODEM

I am in process of re-installing everything onto a new hard disk. My problem is minor but irritating. Although I clearly heard my modem dialling up on my previous installation, it is now very faint. I have my modem volume control to maximum and all other sounds are okay. Any suggestions please, before it drives me mad?

Anne McEvoy

A

It would have been helpful to know which make or type of modem you are using but one possible cause is a disconnected or missing connecting lead, between the modem and your PC's soundcard. This may have been dislodged or not replaced when the new hard disc drive was installed. If the modem is an internal type look for an audio output socket on the back panel of your computer (it should be close to the telephone cable sockets). This should have a cable going to the audio input socket on the soundcard (next to the speaker or audio output socket). If the cable is present you could check volume and mute settings for the audio input. They can be found on the Volume Control, which is on the View Menu of the CD Player utility (Start > Programs > Accessories & Entertainment if you are using Windows 98). 

WHAT'S THE USE?

I am repeatedly finding references to "Usenet" in Connected but no one ever explains what it is! Please do so - we are not all computer wizards (yet).

David Hobrook

A

Sorry about that, we try to avoid too much jargon and explain it when we can't help using it, but the odd item of gobbledegook occasionally slips through. Usenet is a very important component of the Internet. It's a network of computers that plays host to Newsgroups. These are basically public noticeboards devoted to a vast range of subjects where anyone can meet to discuss and swap ideas using email.

TEMPORARY INSANITY

I'm sorry to be totally dim (and I'm sure that F!F!F! has covered this before)but what are Temporary Internet Files and why are they kept? I was looking for something I downloaded off the 'net the other day and I stumbled across them and they seem to be taking up quite a bit of memory. Can they be safely deleted, or do they have to be kept for a reason?

And a totally separate query, If you download something from the 'net and you have specified it to be downloaded onto your computer rather than a disk where do they go? Is it always the same place? I seem to have misplaced a file that took quite a long time to download, which is quite annoying!
Natasha Fegan

A

Internet Explorer makes a copy of web pages you have visited in case you want to want to access them again quickly, without having to go on-line. You can restrict the size of the Temporary Internet File folder by clicking on Internet Options on the View menu and select the General tab. There you will find buttons to empty the folder and if you click on the Setting button, a slider to limit the amount of disc space allocated to the folder. You can safely delete anything you find in the Temporary Internet File folder from Windows Explorer, though you may want to hang on to 'cookies' for sites that you visit regularly as they contain information (passwords etc.,) that can help to speed up web browsing.

If you can remember the name of the file, or the date you downloaded it then you should be able to track it down using Find on the Start menu. Normally Windows asks you to specify the location, where you want a downloaded file to be stored and this becomes the default.

QUICK DATE
Ages ago I picked up a tip for putting an icon on the toolbar in Word 97, to insert the time and date into a document. Recently, however, Word got into a spat about corruption in my templates, and to cut a long story short, I lost the icon. I want it back, but how?

Mark Pearce

 
A

Go to the Tools menu, select Customise and choose the Commands tab. Scroll down the list in the Categories menu until you come to Insert, highlight with a single click and look in he Commands window opposite for the Date icons. Click and hold the icons then drag it onto the Toolbar. If you want time and date together you will have to change the default setting. Go to the Insert menu and click on Time and Date; choose the style from the list shown. To stop the date field updating automatically every time you open the document you can unlock it by clicking on it. A grey background appears, press Ctrl + shift + F9 and it changes to a normal highlight. Click the cursor onto another line and the date field is converted to text. Incidentally there is an option to switch off the automatic update function in the Date and Time style dialogue box but it can be a bit hit and miss.