ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers
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Have your own question for the Fleet?  Click here to ask it.

Question submitted by Gail:

I would like to know where I can find simple if statements examples.

Answer from Linda Johnson:

I've got full instructions on my site for IF statements here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/if1.htm

If you need more stuff from my site, try using the search boxes on every page. They work great :-)

Question submitted by michae80 @ bellsouth.net:

Can you used desktop computer (XP) in a laptop? If this is not a dumb?

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Michae. I assume what you are asking is can you use the Windows XP CD you got with your desktop computer and install that on your laptop? If that is what you mean, the answer is No, unless you are going to remove it from your desktop. Windows XP now includes something called "activation" and the way it works is you install Windows and you have 30 days to activate it ... if you don't activate it, it stops working. When it is activated, Microsoft peaks into your computer and sees your hardware specs .... it assigns an activation code to this machine .... if you then try to install Windows on a second computer, it tells you it won't work becuz the hardware doesn't match the activation code.

However, if you remove it from the desktop, then you can install it on the laptop, but you will have to call Microsoft and tell them this and they give you a new activation code. Or, you can purchase a special group license version of the Windows CD which allows for multiple installations.

Activation is a controversial issue. Many people have refused to move to Windows XP becuz of it. However, Windows (and most other software) has never really allowed for multiple installs. It's never really been "legal" but everyone did it. Now, Microsoft (and many other companies) has just found a way to make it harder. Remember that we don't really "buy" software .... all we "buy" is the license to use it on one machine (or more than one if we pay for that type of license)

Hope this makes it clear .... kinda stinks, eh?

Question submitted by tonyq:

When I try to play a WMVaudio/video file in WMP9 which was downloaded from Adobe Studio Exchange it will not play and I get the following message, "The audio codec identified by the tag 130 is required to play this file. To determine if this codec is available to download from the web, click web help".  When I click on web help, the page comes up stating "Page cannot be displayed".  Please can anyone advise me where I can get the tag 130 codec from and how to install it.

Answer from William Warren:

What file did you download? And from which program section? My guess is you have to have the program installed to be able to play the file (like Go Live installed for Go Live's section .... Live Motion for Live Motion's section)

Answer from Vic Ferri:

Go to Sounds and Audio Devices in your Control Panel.
Click the Hardware tab.
In the list of devices, select Video codecs and then click the Properties tab and then the Properties tab in the window that opens up.
There you will see a list of all your installed video codecs.
To find out if any installed codec is enabled and working properly, select the codec and click the Properties tab to see the status.

Question submitted by Ray in Las Vegas:

Hi. I have a fresh windows 2000 pro system setup perfectly with tons o' software and tweaked just right. I have a couple more boxes that are exact replicas and I would like them to be clones of the first. I have never imaged a hard disk before and I'm trying to figure out the best way. I'd like to save an image on my network, and then use it to setup new boxes. I was also considering putting the new hard drives into the master system as slaves until they're cloned. It took me most of a day to setup the first system just the way i liked it.... i figure it should only take an hour or so to burn an image onto a virgin system. Right? Wrong? Am I oversimplifying the process? Any ideas as to how best to proceed are much appreciated! Thanks.

Answer from William Warren:

CDs will work as long as you make the image span across multiple disks. Get Symantec Ghost. It can make the image and then burn it to as many CDs as needed.  For this to work, tell Ghost to make the image bootable and yes you can then re-image about 3 or more machines an hour (depending on machine speed, how many copies of the image, etc., etc.,  etc.)

Answer from Hal Cardona:

Be very careful about the machine names and SIDs. They need to be changed prior to using the machines on a single network. Symantec makes a tool called Ghost Walker that will do this for you, it comes with the Enterprise version of Ghost. There are other tools available that will do the same thing. If these are going to be stand alone machines then the above isn't a major concern. It is a very major concern if the machines are going to participate in the same domain.

Reply from Ray in Las Vegas:

You're all awesome! Thanks for the quick replies.

Question submitted by Kendra:

I am wondering what you used to create this interactive VLOOKUP Excel spreadsheet?  Is that XML?  I thought I saw an XML tag in the coding but maybe not.

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Kendra.  When you save the spreadsheet in Excel, go to File>Save As Webpage ... in the box that comes up you will see the button to "add interactivity"   Good luck.

Reply from Kendra:

Thanks so much for the hint.  Interestingly, I use this application (and teach classes in the subject) ALL the time and I didn't know that you could create an interactive webpage like you had.  I guess it just goes to show that there is always more to learn.  =)

Question submitted by A. Davis from Arizona:

I've searched first and don't find what I'm looking for. Please point me to an article or website if this has been "done before", I know you are busy! Since you are the Word Guru; I want to know how to create a fill-in-the-blank questionnaire that can be filled out on-line via e-mail or downloaded from e-mail (copy, paste, whatever). I want it to be filled out on the PC and either printed or emailed. The lines representing blanks to fill in always "move" ahead even using "overstrike" sending the next text on that line further down the document. I'd also like to set tabs for creation of the document but then when the end-user fills out the blanks, I'd like to have tabs set for the answers. Is it possible to have two different sets of tabs like that? Any help you can give is greatly appreciated. So, thanks for your time in advance - even just for reading this. Best regards, (and I love your newsletter :)

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi A. What you are asking is fairly easily done, using a Word form and form fields. (In Word, go to the View menu, then choose Toolbars, then Forms). This gives you form fields like a text box (which people can use to type their answers without the lines moving) and it also gives you dropdown lists and checkboxes. While you are creating the form, your tabs work the way you want them to, but once you finish creating it and 'lock' the form using the little padlock on the Forms toolbar, the tab key then allows the person filling in the form to move from field to field (just like you describe in your question).  The real forms expert is Dian Chapman and I recommend you read her full series. It's a free tutorial and available on her website here:
http://www.mousetrax.com/TechPage.html

Scroll down that page until you see the 5-part series "Please Fill Out This Form". Start with Part One. It may be all you need to get the hang of it, but if you need more, continue onto the next four parts. Good luck.

Reply from A. Davis from Arizona:

Thank you very, very much Linda :) I'm looking forward to working on it now. Have a great day!

Question submitted by Leland:

I am going to be building a computer used primarily for recording speeches from a microphone to the hard drive and burning CDRs. My question is: How CPU intensive is recording audio to the hard drive and then burning CDRs. Would a cheap i-gig Celeron be sufficient or should I spend the extra money necessary for purchasing a Pentium 4?

Answer from William Warren:

A 1 gig celey will handle that fine.

Question submitted by Kevin:

This isn't a problem - its just a question. Its a question that I get asked all the time: I know my company is monitoring internet traffic and knows where I surf to. My question, how much can they see? For instance, I check my Yahoo mail account occasionally (okay, frequently!). They know this, can they read my mail, or do they just know I've been to Yahoo Mail again? Or google searches, I search for something on Google. Frequently irrelevant but interesting responses come back. Can my company see what I have searched for or can they only see that I am at Google? My response has always been that I don't know, but play it safe and assume they can see everything. What is the real answer?

Answer from William Warren:

Depending on what programs are either running on your workstation (some do this) or what web proxy server they have running (most do this),  most likely the minimum is where you went.  However, some corporate servers can read the data you typed as well (via programs on your workstation)  So, the answer is everything, if they really wanted to

Reply from Kevin:

Wow! Thanks for the quick reply. It looks like I better stick with regular answer - without more information - "play it safe and assume they can see everything." Thanks again

Question submitted by Patti:

My Friend just got a new pc, And he was telling when he goes on the internet his tool bar is what it should but the web page is not full size side to side, He did not have this problem with his old pc which was windows 98 but now he has Xp He does not know how to fix it, I am not sure either can you help?

Answer from Hal Cardona:

It sounds like the web page was designed for a specific monitor resolution and his 98 machine was set to use that resolution and his XP machine isn't. The only way to correct that is to re-set the screen resolution (Display Properties --> Settings tab) to what he was using in 98.

Question submitted by Ed H:

I go to add or remove programs in Control Panel and find a program that
I uninstalled a few days ago and it is still listed. I click to uninstall it and get the following message. ERROR 1316.A NETWORK ERROR OCCURRED ATTEMPTING TO READ FROM THE FILE C:\WINDOWS\INSTALLER\PAINT SHOP PRO 7 ANNIVERSARY EDITION (this is the program i am trying to uninstall) I than press OK and another window comes up saying PLEASE WAIT WHILE WINDOWS CONFIGURES PAINT SHOP PRO 7 ANNIVERSARY EDITION. Than a window comes up saying FATAL ERROR. I click OK and I am back at the Add and Remove window in Control Panel. I have performed a search for any files having to do with this program and nothing comes up. Do you have any idea how I can remove this program from the control panel? Thanks

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Ed. This one is covered in Vic's Registry Tips article in ABC. He says
_________________
"Removing Programs from Add/Remove List

To manually remove entries from your Add-Remove list, just go to this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

You'll then see subkeys for all the programs listed in the Add\Remove list in your Control Panel. Simply delete the one you want to get rid of."
_________________

When you click on the plus sign beside the Uninstall folder, it will expand to show a list of subfolders. The ones at the top may be numbers you don't recognize, but the ones below that show actual program names so you should be able to find the program you are looking for. If not, try clicking on the ones with numbers and look inside them and you should be able to identify the ones you are looking for.

His full article is here, if you don't know how to backup and edit the registry:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc1/v4/vic4.htm

Question submitted by Les Bain:

This laptop has developed an unusual malady. Some text and some symbols do not display. For example, in each window, the three boxes in the upper left hand corner are blank. There is no "X" in the rightmost corner of any window. Most applications are missing some part of the
content. I have reinstalled video drivers. Done detects and repair where I
could. Reinstalled all fonts. No luck. Next step is format and reload which I would like to avoid if possible. Any ideas?

Answer from Hal Cardona:

You have a corrupted marlett font. Follow the instructions here from MS to fix the problem.

Question submitted by Swanee:

I have forgotten my password for my primary login userid for Outlook Express. How Can I retrieve it? Or how can I uninstall Outlook Express and reinistall a clean copy?

Answer from Hal Cardona:

Try this. Create a new identity with all the accounts that you want to use (this will end up being your new identity) then import the Account whose password your forgot using the "from an OE store directory" option. Follow these instructions from Tomsterdam.com
http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/faqs/how.htm#importOE5

Now use regedit to delete the old identity and then use Windows Explorer to delete the old message store. Follow these instructions from
Tomsterdam.com: http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/faqs/how.htm#delnopass

Question submitted by kleo2x @ yahoo.com:

Over the few years I've been computing - I've 'crashed' 3 times. This last time was a BIG crash. Darryl has aways taken my tower over to his house/shop to work on it. This last time he 'wiped' it clean - (over wrote the hard-drive many times).  How does one 'wipe', clean , erase a computer? Just what -?- tool was used to erase/clean my computer. What method was used? This wasn't just a re-installation of Win's98. I was doing an 'Ezclean' thing and I guess I mis-read something and it took out a bunch of files - and nothing would work.  What would I have used or what will I use next time my computer needs 'wiped' clean?

Answer from William Warren:

There are several ... some free some not ... the easiest way is to repeatedly write zeroes to the drive. Here are a few links (from google)
http://www.sofotex.com/download/PC_Utilities/Disk_Tools/
http://www.jetico.com/index.htm#/bcwipe3.htm
http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6255_11-5083573.html

Question submitted by Sameer:

 Can you suggest any way to modify the properties of an excel file without opening it ? Thanks and Regards

Answer from Chad Welch:

Sameer, To modify the properties without opening the file browse to it in Windows Explorer, right-click on the file name and choose properties. The properties can be modified on the Custom and Summary tabs. You will notice that not all of the properties are listed or are available. Those properties can only be modified by opening the Excel workbook.

Question submitted by kevin from cleveland:

strange issue: when i open outlook, outlook today displays when i click on inbox old emails are displayed. when i open inbox shortcut on left pane my recent emails are displayed. it is if i have 2 inboxs running. i tried detect and repair but that didn't help. any thoughts? thank you

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Kevin. Did you possibly move your emails from one computer to another? It does sound like you may have more than one pst file running. Search your computer for *.pst and see if you have more than one. If so, you will have to figure out which one you want to use, then highlight all the mail in one and drag it to the other, then delete the empty one.

Since you say one only shows old mail, I'm wondering if you archived? If so, you may be clicking on the Inbox in your archive pst instead of your main pst.

If it's not that, maybe you have some strange filter turned on or something? Check View>Current View> Customize Current View in both Inboxes and see if you have any filters turned on that could be hiding read mail or something.

Reply from kevin from cleveland:

linda, thanx for response, i have 3 pst's outlook, personal folder and personal folder (1).filter are off.  what i did on sunday was import my contacts folder from outook pc to this laptop's outlook.  should i have both the outlook and personal folder pst's and then follow your instructions and eliminate one of the personal folders pst? thanks and thanks for your newsletter. no archiving either

Answer from Linda Johnson:

The limit for a pst size in Outlook 2000, is 2GB, but it's safest to keep it below 1.7GB ... so just keep that in mind .... but yes, the reason you are seeing two different inboxes is cuz you have more than one pst. So, what I would do is drag all the mail out of the one you imported into the original one, then right click on the one you imported and choose "Close personal folder blah blah"...then close Outlook and delete that pst if you no longer want it.  Outlook won't let you delete the default pst so be sure you empty the right one. good luck

Reply from kevin from cleveland:

thanks linda SUCCESS and learned a lot Best Regards

Question submitted by Joe in Tasmania:

One of our Senior Group is using Windows ME and IE 5.5. His problem is that he wishes to update IE to version 6, whenever he goes to the Windows update page he can download IE 6 but when he tries to install it he gets the message that Version 6 is already installed. A check of IE still shows the Version as 5.5 with the corresponding number in OE. Any assistance please?

Answer from William Warren:

You need to repair your IE installation..  Go to the control panel and under add/remove programs should be Internet Explorer. Highlight it and press the add/remove button.  Then choose the repair option.  Now, this has been known to knacker things too (but IE is already knackered a bit) so i would advise a data backup. :)

Question submitted by Bea from Buffalo:

I try to backup regularly, as I know it's vital to do so. I backup Registry, My Documents folder, Outlook Express. However, I have tried to find these Windows and DOS core startup files in the root direstory to do a backup and can't locate them. ( I have clicked the "show hidden files and folders item )
AUTOEXEC.BAT
COMMAND.COM
CONFIG.SYS
IO.SYS
MSDOS.SYS
SYSTEM.DAT
CLASSES.DAT
USER.DAT
SYSTEM.DAO
USER.DAO
SYSTEM.INI
WIN.INI
CONTROL.INI
PROTOCOL.INI

How do I locate these files in order to backup them?  I'm a senior who has learned so much from the Fleet. I hope you can help me on this. Thanks so much.

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Bea. You said you are showing hidden files and folders, but note in that same place (Tools>Folder Options>View tab) there is an option to show "system" files also ... these are system files so you need to look below where you made the hidden files change and remove the check where it says "Hide protected operating system files"

Note that XP's search utility is known to have bugs, so you still may not find these on occasion ... but this *should* fix it for you. If not, they will be located in the root of your C drive, or C:\WINDOWS\ or C:\WINDOWS\system or C:\WINDOWS\system32.

Question submitted by Rowan from Belgium:

its a very small problem. my windows (not the OS, the actual on screen windows of different applications) have become full screen, obscuring the Windows start panel whenever they're open instead of stopping just above it. its just annoying me and i was wondering how to get it back to default size.

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Rowan ... try right clicking on your taskbar (that's the bar at the bottom where your Start button is) and select Properties ... in there look for an option that says the taskbar should always be in front ... I've got Windows XP and the choice says "Keep the taskbar in front of other windows" ... I'm not sure what it says in ME, but it should be there ... make sure that is checked (or if it says "don't keep the taskbar on top" UNcheck it)

Answer from Mike Baynes:

Hi Rowan,  try clicking on the "F11" key it is the "maximize" button for Windows. I hope this helps.

Question submitted by Andrew:

I have a general question regarding the deletion of Temporary Files. I have read several articles on this subject but nowhere is there any mention of Temporary Files held in HIDDEN folders. After deleting my Temp files, I then go to the tools menu and click on Folder Options. This allows the viewing of HIDDEN FILES. If this box is checked and then a search is carried out for temporary files, more appear. Some of these, when listed, are shown being paler in colour than the others. My question concerns all these Temporary files in hidden folders. Can they all be safely deleted or should those PALER items be left behind? Also, should every file or folder listed in any Temporary file, whether a .tmp file or not, be deleted? I am very wary about deleting .dll, .sys files and the like that are listed in some TEMP folders.

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Andrew, I'm not sure what you mean when you say "SOME temp folders" ... I can tell you that EVERY file in your WINDOWS temp folder is safe to delete, hidden or otherwise ... and every file with a *.tmp extension is safe to delete ... but a dll in a different temp folder could definitely be a dll that is shared and I too would be hesitant to delete it from any folder other than the WINDOWS temp folder.

The instructions I have on my "deleting temp files" page are perfectly safe. I do this ALL the time on all my machines (with any version of Windows) and it has never caused me a problem. And I've done it, over the years, on HUNDREDS of machines and never had a problem. I don't put instructions on my website unless I know they are safe and tested, so I recommend you follow these instructions to delete your temp files ... And, like my instructions say, leave the files in your recycle bin for a couple days to be sure there are no problems (this way you can restore them if there are) ... but I promise you I have never had any problems deleting temp files this way.

To recap ... You can delete ANY file or folder inside your Windows Temp folder without any problem (tho I would be careful of stuff in other Temp folders, outside the Windows Temp folder)

Yes, hidden files and folders can be deleted IF they are in the Windows Temp folder or IF they have .tmp or .chk extension OR the file name BEGINS with a tilde (~)...as my instructions say here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/deletingtempfiles.htm

Question submitted by Joe in Tasmania:

I have received this from one of our members, and I honestly haven't got a clue what to tell him, so I hope someone here can give me some much
needed guidance.

Joe,
I have quite lot of audio cassettes containing music and also some old vinyl records. I would like to transfer these to compact disks. I appreciate that I will need to get a CD burner, which I haven't got. But I wonder what else I need to get. My system is Windows XP and I have plenty of space on my hard drive to temporarily download the 45 minutes on one side of a cassette before transferring it to a CD. However I assume that there is a need for some software to convert the analogue signal to a digital one.
It seems that there are applications which you can pay for and download
from the internet but I have found a price variation from $US 30 from a US firm to $US7 from a British firm. I dont know whether this represents a four fold quality factor or a four fold factor of commercial opportunism !
If the testimonials are to be believed, the British one seems to be adequate for the purpose.. any suggestions ? One site on the web suggested plugging one's tape deck into the back of a video cassette recorder which it was claimed transferred the signal from analogue to digital and then from there play it back to one's computer from which one could then burn it onto a CD ! Thanks for any help that you can give
Dennis

Also do you know of any free programs that would suffice for this?

Answer from Vic Ferri:

See my article here on how to connect your stereo to your PC
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc2/v19/vic19.htm

Also see this article for more help
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc2/v16/bobby16.htm

As you will see, it is just a matter of connecting your stereo to your sound card using a Y type cable. One end has two standard rca plugs which you connect to any OUT at the back of your receiver or amp, and the other end is a single 1/8" plug which you connect to your sound card LINE IN.  Once connected, you can use software like Audio Tools (one of my favorites) to record anything attached to your stereo.  For audio cds, you would burn them as WAV files at the standard audio cd rate of 44,100 Hz, 16 bit. Then with your burning software, it would just be a matter of choosing Audio CD format, and adding your wav files.  If you do not have a stereo system, then you would connect the Y cable to the OUT on your cassette deck but for a turntable you would need to purchase a separare pre amp to be able to record your lps if you do not have a receiver or amp.

Reply from Joe in Tasmania:

Thank you very much for a very informative look into transferring music to CD. I have passed this valuable information onto our member and I'm sure it should help him. It is really appreciated that I am able to come here seeking help when our members ask these questions that I am unable to answer.

Thanks to all who submitted questions this month.  If you submitted a question and did not get an answer, and the problem still persists, try going here and submitting it again.  Just remember that we cannot guarantee that we will answer every question, though I think the Fleet did a bang-up job this month!  Thanks to all of the Fleet for your expert advice and your valuable time :-)