FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 188 (02/12/99)

A WEE PROBLEM

After my daughter and her friend had a little accident with a can of 7 Up and my PC keyboard, I decided to buy a cordless and mouseless keyboard. Is there anyone who can explain to me why my cat has now urinated into two of these keyboards within the space of ten days? Both gave up the ghost, I have now had to resort to a normal keyboard and mouse. Could it be the infra red system is causing the cat to think it is now the local poo tray?

Mandy Fox

A

Unless your present cat litter tray incorporates some kind of infra-red device it seems more likely the keyboard is emitting an odour that is either attractive or offensive to your cat, which is responding by marking its territory. Alternative suggestions from cat experts and any advice on how to stop it happening again are of course very welcome. 

FLOPPY FILLERS

With reference to Peter Sheardown's difficulty with copying large files to multiple floppies (F!F!F! November 11th). Encountering a similar problem I searched the net for a solution and came up with CopyGenie. This small utility attaches itself to the Windows copy function and when a file is too big for a single floppy disk it alerts the user and offers to split the file over as many disks as it takes. On the last disk it places a small CopyGenie file; when all the split files on the copy disks are restored to the hard drive this CopyGenie file reassembles them into the original, large file. CopyGenie can be found at www.copygenie.com
Mike Massheder

A

Your reader could use WinZip to save his file. As I am sure you know this utility will not only compress files it will also automatically span discs if required.
Andrew Saideman

Thanks to everyone who suggested WinZip as a means of fitting large files on to floppy discs. Shareware versions are regularly included in the utility sections of PC magazine freebie cover mounted CD-ROMs or it can be downloaded from Internet sites such as www.tucows.com, www.shareware.com and the WinZip home page www.winzip.com

THE BIG PICTURE

Is there a gizmo that would enable me to use my 21-inch TV screen instead of the pathetically small monitor screen? If there isn't there should be!

Herbert Hughes

A

There are various ways of putting a PC's monitor display onto an ordinary TV screen but there are good reasons why domestic televisions are not routinely used for this sort of application. TV screens are incapable of resolving the fine detail needed to display sharp text and graphics and the relatively low refresh rate of 50Hz means the screen – especially larger sizes -- generate a noticeable flicker. This can become quite tiresome to look at on a static image and the white expanse of a word processor desktop, for example. It is far better to use a purpose-designed PC monitor so if you are having problems consider getting a larger screen; monitors with 17-inch displays sell for as little as £175 these days. Make sure you are not sitting too far away from the screen and that it is correctly positioned. Check your monitor's display settings and that you are using the most appropriate screen resolution settings. You might find that changing the desktop display – font sizes etc. – improves legibility and there are screen magnifiers available for most operating systems and applications.

As to those gizmos, the cheapest option would be a video card with a TV output, which plugs into an expansion socket on your PCs motherboard. The Diamond Speedstar is sold by companies like Simply Computers (www.simply.co.uk) for less than £35. If you don't fancy the idea of tinkering with your PC then there are external PC to TV adaptors, sometimes referred to as 'scan converters', like the Vine Corioscan, which costs around £200 (www.vinemicros.com)      

LET ME IN!

How do I override the Internet security functions on my Windows 95 PC? A message appears when I contact sites that it deems unsecured. For instance I have tried www.egg.comto apply for a card. It states that this site has a low security and privacy rating.  Is this true? I am a surfing Granny but only one-year-old in terms of computer experience!
Helen Spain

A

It sounds as though the security ratings on your browser have been set too high. Assuming that you are using Internet Explorer click on the View menu and select Internet Options then the Security tab, in the Internet Zone, which should be displayed by default, choose the Medium setting and click OK.

LEFT OUT?

After years of being left behind on using the numeric keypad on the keyboard I have worked out why.  It is on the wrong side for all users who are left-handed. Since about 20% of the population are left-handed what about a keyboard with a number pad for us to use?

Rob Dickenson

A

Left-handed keyboards are readily available, a quick Internet search revealed several companies selling them on-line, try: http://www.senecas.co.uk/. While you are at it you might want to have a look at what's on offer at the Left Handed Club website at: http://members.aol.com/alhleft/lhc.html. Incidentally, you probably know this already but just in case, you can change the mouse buttons for left-handed operation from the Mouse icon in Windows 95/98 Control Panel

COUNT ME IN

Is there any easy way to show a word count for each page of a Word 97 document?

Brian Woods

A

We suspect there may be more elegant solutions but the simplest method we could come up with is to first set up a word count keyboard shortcut by selecting Customise on the Tools menu. Next click on the Keyboard button and then Tools in the Categories Window. Scroll down the list in the Commands window, select ToolsWordCount and assign a key combination in the 'Press new Shortcut Key' field  (e.g. Ctrl + W or something you can easily remember, you can reassign or delete existing shortcuts if necessary) and click OK. To count words on individual pages change to Page Layout on the View menu and select Two Pages on the Zoom drop-down list. Now you can simply highlight each page with one swift mouse movement and press the Word Count keyboard shortcut.