FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 177 (02/09/99)

MOVIE MADNESS

In the movies there always seems to be a bright, sometimes animated message on the screen saying something like "you have mail". All I can get out of IE-5 and Outlook Express is an insignificant little envelope on the Task Bar that indicates mail has arrived. I don't have a problem with sound - I've created a personalised sound file saying, "Charles, you've got e-mail" proceeded by a loud referee's whistle blast. No problem there, but I really would like some kind of fun visual announcement, too.

Charles P. Gilson

A

Movie-makers take a lot of liberties with PCs. They always seem to boot up more or less instantaneously, text usually appears in a huge font, a letter at a time, accompanied by a teleprinter sound effect and Internet browser graphics always seem much more lively and interesting than the one's we're used to... The actors using them frequently manage to re-program their PCs or get them to do amazing things with just a few key presses so something as mundane as a 'You've got mail' animation for IE 5 has to be perfectly feasible. Such an add-on must exist somewhere but we drew a blank, so it's over to you. If any F!F!F! readers can recommend a suitable E-mail animation please let us know.

PAPER WAIT

Whenever I try to print from my Epson 440 I get the message 'no paper' even though there is paper - help what can I do?  Secondly, I have been given a US Robotics 56k modem but do not have the driver software. My computer has set it up as a 'standard modem' but it appears to be running very slowly. I would be very grateful for any advice or assistance.

Hong Nguyen

A

You should be able to solve your printer problem using the on-line Troubleshooting Tool on the Epson web site you can find it at:

http://www.epson.co.uk/support/

As far as the modem is concerned, you must obtain the correct driver. Your first port of call should be the US Robotics (now part of 3Com) support site: 

http://support.3com.com/index.htm

If that's busy or slow try DriverGuide.Com, which has a vast library of drivers and access is free, in exchange for a few personal details.

http://www.driverguide.com/

MOVE AUTOTEXT

I am the proud owner of a nice new computer. The trouble is over the last 2 years of working with my old machine I have built up a large amount of Autotext entries, around 400 of them, which I find extremely useful and use them on a daily basis. I now have the problem of re-entering all of these to my new machine, as no one seems to know how to shift them from one hard disk to another. I have tried reading the manuals and have even sent emails to Microsoft online help, with no reply, and can find nothing that even mentions the moving of this data. Please help.
Mike Punter

A

The Autotext entries in Word 97 are stored in folder called Templates, which can be found in: C:\program files\microsoft office\ templates. Simply copy the folder and its contents to the same location on your new PC.

SCREAMING HABDABS

My connection to my main ISP, Screaming.net, is painfully slow with my 56K modem operating mainly at 29k bits/sec and sometimes at 33k bps. I have heard that there are net accelerators available. Do they work and can you recommend any?
D. J. Weight

A

Internet accelerator programs have no effect on the speed at which data is sent to and from you modem, that is determined by your hardware the quality of your telephone line, and how busy your ISP and the Internet are. Accelerator programs appear to speed up web page browsing by looking ahead and downloading links, during the pauses when you are reading a page. 

NUMBERS GAME

In you reply to Margaret King you neglected to mention the easy way of finding one's Internet number; l got mine from my itemised telephone bill!
Jean Skiggs

A

We wondered if anyone would spot that one…

FASTER CLEAROUT

I have a large number of Temporary Internet Files. I have tried to delete them by going through Explorer, highlighting each one then deleting. Is there a quicker way to get rid of them?

Peter Swingler

A

The simplest method is to open the Temporary Internet File folder by double clicking on it then go to the Edit menu, choose Select All then click the Delete icon or press the Delete button. Explorer will remove all of the Internet files but it will ask you to confirm the deletion of each Cookie file. These contain data – passwords, preferences, configuration details etc. -- that speed up page downloads from frequently visited sites, so you can go through the list, pruning those you do not want or no longer need.

ABSENT ARROWS

I am using Windows '98 on an Aptiva E2N and somehow I have turned off the feature that show a little curved arrow on folders and files on the desktop indicating they are a shortcut. Now everything looks the same and I have to get properties before I trash anything to be sure I am not dumping a valuable file. The shortcut arrow is showing up fine in files in folders but not for stuff on the desktop. I know you told us how to fix this in a past issue of Connected but when I searched your web site I couldn't find it.

Peter Quentrall-Thomas

A

Those shortcut arrows have vexed a lot of F!F!F! readers over the years and there has been a steady stream of requests for details of how to get rid of them but you, sir, are the first person to actually want to put them back… Unless you have been tinkering around inside the Windows Registry, which seems unlikely, the only simple way of switching them on and off is from a Control Panel utility called Tweak UI. Assuming that you have the Windows 98 version installed on your machine you can restore the arrows by double clicking on the Tweak UI icon, select the Explorer tab and the various arrow options are at the top.

HOME FREE?

Suppose I changed from a pay ISP to a free ISP but then found that its search engines were inadequate, so I used the given search engine on the free ISP to look for the site of a better one, would I be breaking any rules?
Ian Wilson, Holloway, London

A

Not at all, the function of an Internet service provider is to give you access to the Internet, you are under no obligation whatsoever to use its search facilities or indeed any of the services they supply. You can bypass the ISP's home page and configure your browser to open on any page or site of your choosing, including that of any of the search engines. If you are using Internet Explorer simply go to Internet Options on the View menu and on the General tab enter in the address of the site in the Home Page field.