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

Question submitted by Butterfly:

How do you remove all of the forwarding adddresses from mail that has been forwarded to many people? Thanks

Answer from Mike Baynes:

Hi Butterfly, when I wish to reply to a message with all the forwarding addresses in it I just copy the portion of the email I am replying to and paste it into a new email. Then add the address I wish to reply to. If you are forwarding the message just highlight all the addresses in the message and delete them.

Question submitted by TIM ALLEN:

The problem is when I want to burn hidden files to an cd-r, It shows me the hidden files i want to burn. They're still to be seen on the cd-r tracks after i have completed the burning session. What am i doing wrong? Can I burn hidden files to cd-r's? Also, Is there any way to create a application that will run hidden files or will these hidden files still remain as a file to be used by a application burned to the cd-r? IF YOU WOULD,THIS QUESTION URGENLY NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION. THANKS A  MILLION!

Answer from William Warren:

If I understand your question. you want files that were hidden on your pc to be burned as hidden files onto a cdr. AFAIK that is not possible. Current burning software does not keep the attributes. The CDFS filesystem may not support that either.  You can encrypt the files with pgp then burn the encrypted files onto a cd-r.

Question submitted by finn from GA:

I can not go to normal mode from safe mode after restore. Is it possible that I have restored back too far? Or what do you suggest that I can do to solve this problem?

Answer from Hal Cardona:

Did you try restarting? Normally a restart is all that's necessary to exit safe mode.  If you entered safe mode by using msconfig, you may need to re-open it (msconfig) and remove the prior changes you made. You can also try pressing the F8 key repeatedly during the boot process to access the windows start-up menu and from there select normal mode.

Reply from finn from GA:

Thank you so much for your respond! Your suggestions were so helpful!

Question submitted by Ed:

How do I make a copy of programs that I have paid for and downloaded from the internet so that I can install them if something goes wrong with my computer?

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Ed. When you download a program from the Internet, usually what you download is the "install" file. Just copy this file you downloaded to your backup medium .... if you have a CD burner, just burn it onto a CD. Then, you have the install file to install it again if you need to. Also, when you downloaded it, if they gave you a serial number or something that you needed to use to install it, put that serial number in a text file and save that in the same place you put the original file (your CD, etc.) because you will need to use this serial number again when you install it.

Question submitted by blacklion:

Some years ago, I had installed and used "EndItAll" on my computer. Since then, I, properly uninstalled it and had no problems. Suddenly, about one month ago, I ran into this: Every time I reboot, I get a dialog box asking me if I want to install EndItAll. When I click "NO", I have no problems until I reboot again. I tried to search for any file related to that program, with negative results. I installed EndItAll and uninstalled it, the problem remained. Any suggestions? Thanks

Answer from Hal Cardona:

Press Start --> Run --> msconfig Press Enter or OK. Go to the start-up tab and uncheck anything that refers to enditall.

Reply from blacklion:

Thanks Hal, but:  1. There is nothing in the Startup that has anything to do with "Enditall".  2. After I initially uninstalled "Enditall", about 18 months ago, I did not have this problem, until about one month ago.

Answer from Hal Cardona:

If nothing is the msconfig start-up tab appear to reference enditall, then you should try unchecking everything on the start-up tab and see of that solves the problem. If it does then re-enable the items you previously unchecked until you locate the culprit.

Reply from blacklion:

Thanks, I'll try that.

Question submitted by N.Brown from SC:

I removed Adobe 6.0.1 and downloaded Adobe 7.0. When I attempted to install Adobe 7.0, I received the following error message: "A network error occurred while attempting to read from the file C:\Windows Installer\AdobeReader6.0.1.msi" Do I need to reinstall Adobe 6.0.1??? If not what approach for a possible resolution???

Answer from William Warren:

nod. I would remove reader 7 and reinstall reader 6

Question submitted by Rod B.:

When the BAT file extracts the file from the CAB, it doesn't have any
information about where it should be copied to.  If SFC.exe knows where the files are supposed to be copied to, can your BAT program know as well? Would you need to create an EXE to take care of that?

Answer from Vic Ferri:

No, you would use SFC if you want to do that. The bat file is just a method to quickly extract any cab file -or multiple cab files - to a premade folder on your desktop. You can change the folder to your System folder which is where all dlls go to, but I wouldn't recommend it and it's not the purpose of the bat file.  For example, the bat file is also to extract and backup multilple files You wouldn't want them going all over the place. Say you want to save all the original dll files to your hard drive. You would just use a wildcard.Enter *.dll and all the dll files will be extracted to the premade folder on your desktop.  And if you just want to examine or compare a particular file with the original version, you can do so without it replacing the existing file.  Again. if you just want a straight replacement of a specific file, stick with SFC

Question submitted by mrichards03 @ verizon.net:

Can anyone please help me. I have a Packard Bell Computer and have all the books but the Windows 98 book with the authenticity code on it. I
reformatted the computer and guess what?? You got it, it asked for the Authenticity code for windows 98. I cant find the book grrrrrr. What is one to do? I went to the Packard Bell site and can't seem to find anywhere that can help me with waht I need. The software came with the computer. What does one do in that case? Also, The computer was already reformatted.When the computer loads it asks for Authenticity Code for Windows98. Can I get code from safe mode command only and type in a command to get the code so I can load windows? Thank you so much.

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Sorry. If you formatted your computer you won't be able to get the product key because that was removed from your computer when you formatted it. Vic Ferri did a full article in ABC on all the ways to find your product key, but they all require that Windows is still installed. It is possible if you take it to a shop, they may have some software that can find stuff that has been deleted from your computer, but this is usually very expensive. It would probably be cheaper to go to ebay or something and find a used copy of Windows 98 which you can probably find very cheap. Or contact the people who sold you the PC in the first place. here's Vic's article, but I doubt it will do you much good:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc2/v15/vic15.htm
good luck

Question submitted by patti:

Can anyone tell what the xp power toys are? and what they do??

Answer from Linda Johnson:

Hi Patti. Read this...it should explain the power toys to you.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/
xppowertoys.mspx

Question submitted by mgomez:

excel formula. where colum a1:a24 give a case cost on an item and colum b1:b24 would give the commission made on the case. this would the the data range. Now in the order form when the case cost would be referred to say in colum c then automatically the commision amount would show up in colum d and would be multiplied by the quantity ordered to sum the total commission for that item. I have tried the If function which works quite well, however theres a limit of 7 formulas which can be used in one cell. I tried the vlook, but can't seem to make it work. Suggestions?

Answer from Linda Johnson:

It's definitely a VLOOKUP you need and not an IF. Read my vlookup tutorial here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/vlookup.htm  There's a link at the bottom to my full vlookup tutorial at techtrax.  If you still can't get it to work, let me know EXACTLY what you mean when you say you "can't seem to make it work"....what exactly are you entering and what exactly is happening. Good luck

Reply from mgomez:

IT WORKED! Thank you, I will refer people to your site and buy from you when able. Thanks again for your help.

Question submitted by :

I have TurboTax 2004 on Windows XP. I installed the state file for TurboTax. There was a clicth in the state program. I unistalled the whole program (TurboTax and the state). I reinstall TurboTax. I was going to install the state but the program knew I did that same state before and did not let me continue. They want me to by it. The first state is free. So the program thinks I am downloading a second state. Here is my question. How do I delete my count keys in both of my programs (TurboTax and the state) so the computer doesn't know that I reinstalled? I do not want to reload my computer like I did in the past.

Answer from William Warren:

Use your system restore to back the system off to a restore point before you had installed TT and try it again.

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 :-)