FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 176 (26/08/99)

DODGY DELETE?

How do you remove items from the Start Menu, without deleting them? My Programs sub-menu is getting longer and longer with programs I no longer use but do not want to delete. When I try to remove them using Settings  > Taskbar & Start Menu > Taskbar Properties > Start Menu programs, I get asked the question: 'Are you sure you want remove the folder... and move its contents to the Recycle Bin?' What next?

Jane Trimmer

A

The wording in the dialogue box is a little misleading since it implies that the entire program will be deleted when in fact all that happens is the reference to it is removed from the Start or Programs menu. You can check this for yourself by opening Windows Explorer after you have deleted the folder. You will see that the original program folder is still there, you will also notice that the deleted folder in the Recycle bin is only a few kilobytes whereas the program it refers to will usually occupy several megabytes of disc space. By the way, don't forget that Recycle Bin provides you with a safety net and you can restore any or all of the deleted items it contains up until the bin is actually emptied.

BIGGER BRACKETS? 

Further to the Boot Camp article on 5th August on special symbols in Word, I would like to know how to bracket together several lines, using the style of bracket which appears in upper case, on the keys to the right of the letter "P". There seems to be characters in the Symbol font set which would allow this character to be formed but I haven't been able to make it work. Do you have any ideas?

N. Spurr

A

Good question! There should be a way of doing it but we haven't managed to find it, so we'll pass this one over to our ingenious readers, who haven't failed us yet.

FRACTIOUS FRACTIONS

I frequently type documents in which unusual fractions occur. I was therefore most interested to see that I should be able to create any vulgar fractions using MS word. I placed the cursor on a clear line, went through Insert, Field, Equations and Formulae, as advised. I then selected EQ and typed ob320/f(39,71) as a test case. In the document appeared, literally, 'ob320/f(39,71)' which was something of a disappointment! Have I done something foolish or missed something vital?

Peter W. Saunders

A

Sorry, typo gremlins at work… The 'ob320' in front of the formula '/f(a,b)' shouldn't be there, try it again – without those five characters -- and it will work.

SIMPLER FRACTIONS?

Surely the simplest way to create fractions is to type the numerator followed by the denominator but separated by a slash (/). Then highlight the numerator, go to Format > Font > Superscript, click OK. Repeat with the denominator but use subscript. Remember to toggle subscript off before continuing. This method has the benefit of matching the style used in Word Symbols fractions.

Ross Johnston

A

Thanks for that, it works well but we're not totally convinced that it's simpler than the method we described.

SILENT SAVER

Is there any way of suppressing the screen saver audio whilst playing a CD on the PC?

Alan Banks

A

All of the screen savers with sound that we are aware of use 'wav' audio files and these can be muted (along with all other system sounds) from Windows Volume Control (Start > Programs > Accessories > Entertainment > CD Player).  Select Volume Control on the View menu and click the Wave Mute box. If it's not displayed go to Options on the Volume Control menu bar, select Properties and check the box next to Wave under 'Show the following volume controls'  

GETTING PERSONAL

Despite studying all available manuals I am unable to find details of how to install a personalised screensaver onto the Control Panel display listings. I am using Windows 98. Can you help?

Brian Pritchard

A

You can personalise the Windows 95/98 screen saver called 3D Text. Select it from the drop-down list then click on the Settings button, this opens a dialogue box and in the top left hand corner there's a field for entering up to 16 characters and spaces. If 3D Text isn't listed it hasn't been installed so you will have to go to Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, select the Windows Set-up tab, double click on Accessories, put a tick in the Screen Saver checkbox and follow the instructions. There are a huge number of shareware DIY screensaver programs on the Internet, try www.shareware.com, just type 'screensaver' in the search field

WORD GRIDLOCK

I am a junior schoolteacher, and often make up word searches for my class. Is there a downloadable program I can access that will arrange them for me? Ideally I'd like to type in a list of words, set the grid size and it would produce a puzzle I could incorporate into a Microsoft Word 97 document. I have searched the net using obvious key words, but not come up with anything flexible enough. Any suggestions will be gratefully received.
Sue Sandberg

A

We managed to find quite a few word search programs on the Internet (try Word Finder and others at www.softseek.com) there are also several on-line word search puzzle sites (http://www.thinks.com/wordsearch/ws.htm is worth a visit) but none of them integrate easily with Word. However, you can easily copy and paste the image of the grid into a document. You can also create a puzzle in Word manually using the Table function. Go to the Table drop-down menu and click on Create Table, choose the number of rows and columns and click OK. Key in the letter for the words to be found then fill in the empty squares with random letters. If anyone knows of a Word-compatible word search program please let us know and we'll pass it on.

OPENLY LAZY

Are the various methods you have recently described of opening the CD-ROM drawer from the screen really easier than just putting out a finger and pressing the button?

David Pound, Charwelton, Daventry

A

Of course they're not, but where's the fun in that…

POUND NOTES

After reloading Windows 95 I have found that my keyboard cannot produce the pound sign. When holding down shift and pressing 3, I get # instead of £. Each time I want to use it, I have to use character map. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Laura Ann Lyons

A

The most likely explanation is that the keyboard language setting in Windows was left on the US American default setting during installation. It can be changed to English (British) by clicking on the Keyboard icon in Control Panel (Start > Settings), select the Language tab, click the Add button scroll down the list to find the correct setting, highlight the entry and click OK.