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Question submitted by sarahs school reports:

I'm trying to write school reports. At the moment we use Excel to create the reports and then use a Word mail merge  to print them out.   I wanted to use Access as it it easier to group the pupils who need the same sorts of action points.  In Access the field length will not allow inputs of over 255 characters, I need to write more than this per pupil in the comment section. Is there a way around this please?

Answer from Chad Welch:

Sarah,  You need to use a memo field instead of a text field.  To change your field, select your table and then click "Design."   Find your field in the table and select it. You should notice that the second column says "Text." Change it to say "Memo."  Click the save button on the toolbar and close the design view of the table. You can now add more than 255 characters to the field.

Follow-up from sarahs school reports:

Thank you very much .. is there any way I can create some sort of look up in this field to save time and to save retyping the same comments over and over?

Reply from Chad Welch:

I assume that by ‘lookup’ you are referring to a ComboBox or ListBox. Unfortunately, Access cannot use memo fields in those types of controls. It is fairly straightforward to create a workaround though.

1. Create a table where you will store your comments.  Name it ‘tblComments’. Add two fields to the table.  The first should be named ‘Summary’ and be a text field with 255 characters. The second field should be named ‘Comment’ and be a memo field. 
2. Logically, you now populate the table putting a summary of the comment in the Summary field and the full comment in the Comment field.
3. Create a field in your Students table named ‘sdntComment’ (for the simplicity of this example I named the table ‘tblStudents’). The field should be a text field with 255 characters.
4. Now create (or edit) a form where you will be choosing the comment. View the form properties and click the ‘build’ icon for the record source. It should open up a Query Builder. Add tblStudents and tblComments.
5. Create a join between ‘sdntComment’ and ‘Summary’.  Add any fields to the query that you want on your form including ‘sdntComment’ from ‘tblStudents’ and ‘Comment’ from ‘tblComments’.
6. Close the Query Builder and choose Yes when asked to update the property.
7. Add a combo box to the form and choose the following options in the wizard:

a. I want the combo box to look up the values in a table or query.
b. Choose ‘tblComments’
c. Add ‘Summary’
d. Adjust the width of the column
e. Store that value in this field: sdntComment
f. Name the combo box and click finish

8. Add a text box near the combo box and choose ‘Comment’ as the Record Source.
9. You should now be able to choose a comment summary from the combo box and have it automatically populated in the text box.

I hope that my explanation was a little bit clearer than mud. Good luck on your project.

Reply from sarahs school reports:

I have a question: what is a firewall? I have broadband cable modem connection and it seems ever since it was installed my spam mail has increased tremendously.  My next question is about spam. Why hasn't someone developed a program that when one receives a spam email, you of course don't open it, but could instead send it back to the original sender spamming their mail box. Also the program could automatically block the sender if they tried to contact you again.  Do you think that this idea may have some merit? I would love to spam the spammers and hopefully they will stop bugging me.  Would a firewall help prevent spam?

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Ed...for a definition of a firewall, go here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/gs1.htm#F

and no, a firewall won't decrease spam....all a firewall does is keep the information on your computer safe from hackers who might try to access it.

As for spam, I use a great program called Spam Inspector, which will block people who send me spam if I add them to my "enemies" list...I can also send their email address to Spam Inspector and they will do all the reporting for me...so I couldn't live without this program....because my email address is accessible to all on my website, I probably get about 150 spam emails a day *sigh*...but Spam Inspector keeps me from having to deal with most of them....I wrote a review of this program which you can read here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/spami.htm

There's also a link there to download a free trial version...I recommend you try it...everyone I know who's used it has really liked it

good luck to you and have a great day

I'm helping a kindergarten to set up a PC for the kids to use. It's set up so on startup it starts "The Adventures of Maisy Mouse" (an educational program that ties in with a book series).  The PC runs Windows 98 and has a touch screen (which the OS sees as a mouse). It will be put in a cabinet so all the kids see is the screen,  which they can touch to play the game, with the keyboard locked away so only the school staff can use it.  The kids are 4-5 year olds, and they love to fiddle with things, change settings at random etc. They have no idea what they're doing, only that they're not allowed to do it.  What we want to do is make the taskbar & start menu inaccessible to the mouse, i.e. so you have to use the keyboard to change any settings. I'm guessing that there's probably a registry hack or third party tool that will do the job, but haven't found anything useful so far. 
Anyone have any ideas?

Answer from Vic Ferri:

This is a simple freebie I created that allows you to hide the taskbar in Windows 9x and Windows XP (and almost certainly in 2000 - I just don't have 2000 installed so I can't confirm it positively)  No-brainer to use, only 20 kb, and self contained - nothing to install. Just double click the icon and you'll see two buttons - Hide Taskbar and Show Taskbar. Just click whichever one you want applied and exit.  Obviously if this is to be used for security, the icon should not be placed on the desktop but hidden in some other directory. If placed in the Windows directory, you can access it using the Run box or Windows Dos prompt. Simply type TASKBAR and click OK or press Enter.  If the taskbar is already hidden when you want to access it, hit Ctrl+Esc on the keyboard to bring up the Start menu.

Download Vic's Taskbar Hider here.

NOTE FROM LINDA: I tried it on Windows 2K and it works just fine there, Vic :-) So, it's safe to say it  works on all versions of Windows

One of my dbx files is 38 mb in size while there is only 2 mb worth of stuff in there.  Also the deleted elements .dbx files (multiple accounts) are showing between 5 and 8mb when they are in fact empty.  If I delete the files after moving the messages and attachments when necessary, will they be re-created on the next startup of Outlook Express? This is a great idea for the new ABC. I hope it works and that people will send in their questions by the ton......

Yes they will.  Just make sure you have OE closed when you delete them.

On different websites I want to copy and paste something into MS Word which includes hyperlinks. Unfortunately, when I paste them, all I get is the gibberest about the hyperlink - not the actual description that I see printed on the websites.  Is there some way I can paste a hyperlink into MS Word that is actually readable?

Answer from Linda Johnson:

I can only assume you must have Field Codes turned on.  Open Word....go to the Tools Menu and click on Options.  In the Options box, click on the View Tab at the top. In the section at the top that says "Show", look for a checkbox that says Field Codes and uncheck that. Then click OK

Reply from Donna:

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!  Now everything works perfectly in the copying hyperlinks into MS Word.  I have no idea why the field codes box was checked, but it was.

Question submitted by Knud from Victoria:

My Widow 98 SE has started to hang (freeze) when I want to shut my puter down. It started to freeze on me just suddenly, in the beginning it would give a beebig sound there would not stop until I turned off the power supply, now it just hangs. Some people have told me it is my drive, others that I have programs running that the puter is unable to shut down. Any help will be appreciated

Answer from Hal Cardona:

Knud,  The problem you are describing could be a number of things and unfortunately can take quite a bit of work to resolve.  I will start with the simplest solutions first.

It could be caused by a corrupted exit sound, try using the Control Panel Sound Applet and disable all sounds.
It could be caused by a problem with your AV software. Try disabling it.
Run Scan disk and defrag on your hard drives.
Make sure that you have applied the Windows 98SE Shutdown patch, it is available from Windows Update.
In the advanced section of msconfig (Start--> Run--> msconfig) make sure that Fast shutdown is disabled.
Try using msconfig and disable the system.ini, win.ini and all start-up items. If that solves the problem then re-enable things one at a time until you find the offending program.

Enter your computers BIOS and try setting it to optimized defaults, if that is available or doesn’t help set it to Setup Defaults. Before you do this you should make notes about the settings on each page of the BIOS so you can return the settings to where they are now. If either Optimized or Setup defaults help try going through the BIOS and returning things to their previous settings one at a time and see if you can locate the offending setting. Be very careful in the BIOS, a wrong move in here can keep your PC from booting.

Try using the device manager and use it to disable pieces of hardware until you find the culprit. If you need the piece of hardware, try a new driver from it's manufacturer.

Let me know if you need any additional help with these troubleshooting steps.

Question submitted by Henry:

This has been going on for a while now and is driving me crazy. When I click on Windows98SE Explorer shortcut, the right pane shows what is in my C:\  drive. However, the left pane shows what is on the disk, but the C: drive doesn't open. C:\ used to expand automatically when I clicked on Windows Explorer. I now have to click on the + sign in front of C:\ to get it to open. Again I'm using Win98 second edition.  I deleted the shortcut, shut down the computer, and then re-made the shortcut using C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n,/e,C:\ It still didn't work, so something else is going on.  What seems to be happening is the explorer switches are not working. (Maybe -- see below about D:\ drive). I get the same results using the switches as I get going to C:\Windows and clicking on Explorer.exe.  How do I get the switches to work?  I even tried extracting a new Explorer.exe from the CAB files and then applying the switches to that. Still didn't work.  This is an interesting part. I then changed  C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n,/e,C:\ in the short cut to  C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n,/e,D:\ and the D:\ drive opens just like it is supposed to. I can only think I have a registry problem.   I had not installed any new hardware or software, the problem just started by itself.  *After* all this, I uninstalled IE6 using IEradicator and installed IE5.5 hoping that that would cure the problem. It didn't, so I uninstalled IE5.5 using IEradicator and reinstalled IE6.  A second problem that started at the same time, and may be related, has to do with the A:\ drive. If I put a disk in the A:\ drive and click on it in Windows Explorer, it opens just as it should. If I then put a different disk in the A:\ drive and click on it, nothing happens. I can do an F5 and refresh the drive and it shows what's on the disk. (This A:\ drive problem is also on my wife's computer using Win98SE, but the C:\ drive problem isn't on her computer.)  Do I have a registry(s) problem(s)?

Answer from Vic Ferri:

Hi Henry, you contacted me re: this problem before. Sorry to hear the problem persists.  Try adding the select switch to see if that makes a difference.  Enter it like this:
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n,/e,C:\ /select,C:\
I tested it and it works on my 98se to select and expand the specified drive.  Also, a simple reinstall of Windows over itself might help.  good luck

Question submitted by Margaret from MA:

The printer quits on the second (or subsequent) page, will continue after rebooting computer. Memory is low. Is there a connection?

Answer from Kathy Jacobs:

Yes, this is could be a memory problem. It could also be a hard drive space problem. I would do a few of things to narrow down exactly what is happening:
1) If you are using background printing, turn it off and see if that helps.
2) Try printing documents one page at a time to see if there is something on the second page that the printer is having problems spooling. (This is especially true if there are specific documents that have this problem.)
3) Check and see if your hard drive is running out of space. The print spool on XP is actually a folder, and it should grow to handle your files. If the hard drive is out of space, clean up temp and internet files.
Hope this helps!

Question submitted by Janey in Minnesota:

Twice in June, my Outlook Express starts up, looks like it is searching and downloading my e-mails from Earthlink/Microsoft IE, and then the usual message comes up when it is done - i.e., can't locate other mailboxes. BUT the messages in the inbox don't show up in the window. AND when I try to shut it down, it is not responding. (I need to do a Control-Alt-Delete, End Task to shut it down.) I only took 17 unreadable e-mails to catch on this time, but this second "break" has lasted nearly a week now, and the first one healed itself much sooner. I have written Earthlink Support - after the first failure - but received no response from them.  Oh, I have tried accessing Outlook from (1) Programs on the Start menu; (2) the shortcut on my desktop; (3) the Read Mail button on my taskbar for Earthlink and for IE; (4) by clicking on the mail icon on my start-up page. None work this time.

Answer from Vic Ferri:

There's a known problem if you are using Outlook Express with Earthlink 5.  See here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;297359

Also see here to make sure you have everything setup correctly.
http://support.earthlink.net/support/BROWSEHELP/browser.jsp?key=email/emlWin98OE

Question submitted by Miam:

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Miam...here's the steps to add a field to a form:

Open the form
Switch over to Design View
Look at your toolbar at the top of your screen and find the button for your Field List and click on it
Find the field you want in that list and left click and drag it onto your form where you want it, then line it up and size it appropriately

This, of course, assumes the field you want to add is one that's in the table(s) you used to create the form, which is what I am assuming

Followup from Miam:

The field that I am trying to put on my form is not in the tables that I originally linked (or whatever) to the form when I went through the wizard.  I am new to Access, as you might be able to tell, and am attempting to create a db for a military school. I was told that it is best to make several tables that pertain to specific information, i.e. personal info, medical, attendance, etc... When I made my form I used information from a few tables, let's say, personal & medical. Now I have created the Attendance table, and am wanting to use a field from it. I'm just thinking, surely there is a way that one can improve a form, taking into consideration that there might be a need for new tables or something.  Thanks for any help you can give

Reply from Linda Johnson:

However, remember that this is a place for you to ask questions...not a place where we teach you how to use a program step-by-step. If you want more intense training on Access, I would suggest you check out all the articles from ABC, written by James La Borde, which teach about Access here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/authors.htm#james

Also, James teaches an excellent online Access class you might want to consider taking. It's only $20 for a six week class and I promise you that you will learn much. Here's where he teaches those classes, and his next class is starting this weekend:
http://www.eclecticacademy.com/curriculum.htm

Question submitted by rona:

What are the components of Microsoft Word?

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Rona. I'm not sure exactly what you want to know when you say the "components" and the answers would be different for each of the different versions of Word....I think you can see what's included best, by going to Microsoft's website Product Page and choosing the version of Word you are interested in from the dropdown list at the top....then you can see what's included....here's the link to the Product Info page....good luck:
http://www.microsoft.com/catalog/default.asp?subid=22

Question submitted by vivs from Sweden:

I save a lot of graphics in a particular folder, and OE used to open the save as menu in the folder that I last saved to...since the last Microsoft update it always defaults to my documents... That makes it a real hassle to save the graphics that I get in my email...unfortunately I did a lot of updates at the same time so I don't know which one of the updates that made this change, but I'm hoping there is some way to reverse these changes!

Answer from Vic Ferri:

Which update did you make specifically?  This patch 331923 .
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;331923
is supposed to fix this known problem which was caused by the 330994 patch:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330994

Having said that, many have complained that even after applying the fix , the problem of not being able to change the default save attachment path, remained. So just know that this is nothing to do with your settings, it is a Microsoft bug.  The path for saved attachments in Outlook Express is in the registry. As a possible workaround, you may try changing the path there, but no guarantee it will work.  Click Start>Run, type regedit and make your way to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{your id number here}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0
In the right hand pane for the key 5.0, looked for a value named Save Attachment Path.  Double click it and change the path to whatever folder you want your attachments saved to and make sure to include a backslash at the end of the folder name.
ie D:\Pics\
If that doesn't work, try adding multiple backslashes
ie D:\Pics\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Reasoning behind that is that, apparently, this flaw has to do with the backslash being dropped when saving attachments and thus the path is seen as invalid making Microsoft default to My Documents.  good luck

Question submitted by Mel:

I am running WORD 2000. Many EZP'S showed up on the Standard Tool Bar and on the menu that appears when the "MORE BUTTONS" arrow is used. How do I get rid of them?  Any help would be greatly appreciated!  Thank you.

Answer from Linda Johnson:

here's a tip I wrote on how to fix that...good luck:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc1/v5/newabc5.htm#tip

Question submitted by Pete Lord:

When I try to publish my web I get a box asking for username and password as usual. The username box has a dropdown box with 2 options. One is ISUR_AOLDSL@americaonline.aol.com and the other www.oldshipinn.co.uk\xxxxx. The username I need to use is "xxxxx" but it overrides my entry with the one already in the list. I cannot find any way to erase these two options from the list and it does not appear for any other of the sites that I publish. Is there a way that I can remove these options from the list? I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling FP but the problem remains.

Answer from Tina Clarke:

I can see by your site you're using FrontPage web bots so that means you're publishing your site. In FrontPage 2002 to publish you go to:
File
Publish Web
and the user name and password box called 'Enter Network Password' comes up

Usually when you have previously published, the User name and the password (if you have ticked 'Save this password in your password list') are inserted for you. If it is the first time you're publishing the site to the location, you have to enter the user name and password... at this point in the process there is NO drop down box with options.

But this is the point where you need to look at the 'Publish Web' box which is still showing behind the username password box.  You need to look at the  Publish from: This should say the web on your hard drive that you're publishing from and below that, To:  This should say http://oldshipinn.co.uk/   If it does not say that, then you need to press cancel on the 'Enter Network Password' box and the 'Publish Destination' box will appear. If, when you click on the drop down box http://oldshipinn.co.uk/ does appear, ignore all the selections and delete what is showing and enter http://oldshipinn.co.uk/ Press ok and the 'Enter Network Password' box will appear again.

At this point you need to RE-ENTER your user name and enter your password.  Press ok and if they are correct (remember case selection is important .. upper case or lower case refer to your welcome email from you host.  To make sure you have the correct username and password), that box will disappear The 'Publish Web' box will fill on the left with your HD web and on the right with the one on the server. Click the options to check that you have changed pages only ticked and press Publish.

If you have any further problems email me directly TinaClarke@accessfp.net and I'll attempt to open the site live for you.

It's always best to go back to basics and do it from the beginning. That way you know you're doing it right.

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