***** This thread is now closed, please CLICK HERE to go to Volume 88 *****
In this thread you may ask any computer related question for which you need help, advice, suggestions or whatever.
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No politics,
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There is a wealth of knowledge in here, much of which is not motoring related, but most of which is useful.
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PLEASE NOTE:
When posting a NEW question, please "Reply to" the first message in this thread, i.e. this one. This keeps each question in it's own separate segment and stops each new question from getting mixed up in amongst existing questions. Also please remember to change the subject header.
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Note for Welliesorter
>>Are you sure that's the version that includes the DVD stuff (Nerovision Express)?>>
You appear to be a little confused about Nerovision Express - or Nero Express as it used to be - which is a wizard version of Nero6. Earlier editions came up with a more basic wizard panel.
It simplifies the features of Nero6 and you can switch between the two using the Nero Express button on the Nero6 toolbar.
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{Subject header amended, as per the "PLEASE NOTE:" above. DD}
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You appear to be a little confused about Nerovision Express - or Nero Express as it used to be - which is a wizard version of Nero6.
They're not the same thing. Nero Express is the simplified interface for Nero proper: the original CD and data DVD program. Nerovision Express is a separate DVD-video authoring program. The latter comes with some versions of Nero but not with others.
There's now such a bewildering array of individual programs with Nero that the complete suite includes a program called Nero StartSmart which enables you to work out which to use for which task.
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FILES TRANSFER
I have tried without success to transfer music files from my PC to my mobile. The PC approves the transfer and shows the destination file,but if I ok this a window opens with the legend "request not approved by phone. Unsuported media type(OX4F).Is there any way I can download my own music files,or am I left with no option but to download MP3 files?
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Depends what the model the phone is? but yes, there are some phones that won't play MP3s other than over the air downloads.
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>>FILES TRANSFER
What phone is it?,some phones use own software to convert MP3 files to phone using different format/bitrate,pc will state its
unsuported due to phone not accepting
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Steve
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It`s a Motorola V3i. Trouble is, the handbook provided with the phone is not much help.I can get lots of pop mp3,but i prefer classical music.Does anyone know of a good classical mp3 site?
Can i get a program that will convert Windows player or Real to mp3?
Thanks for help so far.
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Classical MP3 musical sites:
www.eclassical.com/
classical.bardscrier.com/
No doubt there are others.
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Thanks very much Stuartli.Most helpful.
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Hi- has anyone got Ubuntu (free) Linux working with their PCI ADSL modem? Mine uses the Conexant chipset, and a bit of Googling appears to show that getting the two to work together might not be straightforward, especially to a Linux virgin like me. Certainly I get no joy with the 5.10 Live cd. (Same with SUSE 10.0 Live off this month's Computer Shopper.)
Failing that, what ADSL hardware *have* people used successfully with Ubuntu without having to do anything complicated?
www.ubuntu.com/
Cheers
John
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I haven't any experience of Ubuntu with the modem you mention, though Ubuntu is a wonderful thing. It could be that Conexant does not provide drivers for the chipset you have, a situation that is, thankfully, improving rapidly. What I would suggest, whatever OS you're using, is to swap that modem for an ethernet card (under a tenner) and buy an adsl router (about £30 for a basic non-wireless one) which will provide a firewall and a much more reliable connection. It will just work.
A good idea before buying hardware is to check compatibility: Google [hardware make]+Linux and you should get results. The lists of supported gear are surprisingly long these days and you generally just plug it in.
Have you tried the Ubuntu forums? They are pretty good.
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I would suggest, whatever OS you're using, is to swap that modem for an ethernet card (under a tenner) and buy an adsl router (about £30 for a basic non-wireless one) which will provide a firewall and a much more reliable connection. It will just work. Have you tried the Ubuntu forums? They are pretty good.
Thanks - it was Google that made me suspect that I was in for a struggle, and the ethernet + adsl router solution was one of the alternatives that cropped up. Got a card, and routers from Ebuyer start at £16 tinyurl.com/q83zd so that might be my best bet. (It says USB host interface, but I think that's in addition to the ethernet interface- please could someone confirm that?)
I tried posting on the Ubuntu beginners forum, but it had dropped onto the 2nd or 3rd page within a few hours before getting any replies, so I'm not expecting one now. Again, existing posts implied it wouldn't be easy.
John
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BTW is it safe to assume that my ethernet card will work ok under Linux? Actually I've got 2 options- it's built into the motherboard, and I've also got a separate card (an eBuyer cheapie), but they both need drivers under Windows.
John
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You should have no trouble with almost any old ethernet card. It's highly likely that at least one of your cards will just work, probably both. I've always bought them on price (low) and have never had a problem. If you're worried see if Ubuntu reports the card's identity in the hardware list and then Google the name. But given the price of ethernet cards (the last one I bought cost £4) I would just get a router (make sure that cheapie has an adsl modem inside) and plug it in and see.
Check out this list anyway:
www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/index.php/cat/10
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Checking out your ethernet card.
I honestly would not expect that you will need to do anything for this. Ubuntu has a good installer which will automatically find and configure your ethernet adaptor.
If it doesn't then try this. Get hold of a Knoppix CD and boot it up with that. Open up a terminal window and do a dmesg| grep eth0. That will tell you what it has recognised and what has been loaded to run it. What you are looking for is an entry which starts with something like "eth0".
Knoppix can run with almost anything and recognises all sorts of hardware. It allocates the appropriate modules for them. Because Knoppix and Ubuntu are both Debian based whatever Knoppix runs with will also work on Ubuntu. If you explore the Knoppix menu you will also find other graphical programs that will give you similar information but dmesg is the easiest way to do it. Once you know what Knoppix uses to run the ethernet chip then use that with Ubuntu.
I wouldn't even bother with the PCI ADSL card. As others have said you are far better to use a separate ADSL modem with an ethernet connection. It will have dhcp which will allocate your network settings automatically. Set up the modem and connect it to the PC then load Ubuntu. It will configure itself with minimal questions and it will just work. This isn't like the old days 8 years ago when setting up Linux took me weeks of experimenting and hacking my own config files. It is house trained now.
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Just as an aside, if you want a stress-free way of tinkering with Ubuntu without having to parition your hard drive for it, you might like to try the VMWare Player software and pre-made Ubuntu environment from www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/ .
It creates a virtual machine working within your existing operating system. I suspect the PCI ADSL card won't be an issue as it'll just use the existing internet connection created by Windows.
I've tried it on my Windows XP machine and it works extremely well. Unlike the live CD version of Ubuntu, you can install software and even replace the default Gnome desktop with KDE by adding the Kubuntu packages. If you muck something up, you can simply abandon what you've done and return to the installation that you originally downloaded.
The only disadvantages are that it's bound to run a little slower (although I haven't found this to be a major issue) and you don't get the smug feeling of having a Bill-free PC.
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Thanks- sounds interesting, might give it a go...
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Its safe to assume that almost anything you have hardware wise will sprout problems
I love the way linux freaks always blame the hardware manufacturers.
Its still a shed.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I love the way linux freaks always blame the hardware manufacturers.
Who's blaming anyone? Hardware manufacturers follow the money and good luck to them. It seems HP, IBM, and Intel, among many others are happy to provide Linux drivers or hardware specs though. Mostly Linux is just plug and play now, though it wasn't three years ago, I'll grant you. But then I guess three years is nothing for Windows freaks. They'll wait years longer than that for an upgrade and then thank The Man for it however bad it may be. Junkies the world over will say Amen to that.
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>I love the way linux freaks..
Linux "freaks"?
Mmmm, what's with the name calling? Getting a bit emotional about a choice of operating system aren't we?
Kevin...
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Writing this from within a Windows window containing Ubuntu under VMWare- great! Thanks Wellisorter.
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Many years ago I used to work on Macs. One of the pieces of software I picked up scanned the hard drive and presented you with a tree diagram of all your folders and files within them which could then be printed off.
Does anyone know if such a piece of software exists for PCs? We have to clean up our machines and it would be easier for me to see all my folders on paper and choose what can be deleted/backed up manually rather than spend hours clicking round the hard drive.
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I'd suggest either looking at a program called TreeSize (shareware) or resorting to good old fashioned DOS. Pull up a command prompt and type in:
CD \
Dir *.* /s > c:\whatsonmydisk.txt
Next type in edit whatsonmydisk.txt and you'll be able to see and print out what's on your c (or whichever) drive.
Hope this makes sense,
CV (Chicken Madras as-was)
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windirstat : windirstat.sourceforge.net/
produces great summaries of disk usage
Lee -- Without bills, magazines and junk mail, there is no mail
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Try launching a DOS window and typing
cd c:\
tree >> disktree.txt
disktree.txt now has a tree of your drive in it.
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Mike Farrow
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tree >> disktree.txt
Oh yes and as I've just discovered the best way to view the output file is in MS Word and choose the "Western European (DOS)" encoding from the list.
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Mike Farrow
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Oh yes and as I've just discovered the best way to view the output file is in MS Word and choose the "Western European (DOS)" encoding from the list.
I'll start again :-(
- Launch Word and select Options from the Tools menu. Under the General tab, check "Confirm conversion at open".
- Now open the file. From the first dialog list, select "Encoded text" and click OK.
- In the second dialog, choose "Other encoding:" and scroll down to "Western European (DOS)".
- Now it'll open and look all pretty :-)
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Hi all,
Just after some brain picking of the BRs as this has got me stumped.
We have a HDD that was transported back from Poland via the air, wrapped in a sock and put into checked baggage so exposed to extreme temperatures and xray (don't ask!)
On its return it was plugged into the PC worked for a few minutes then stopped being seen by windows and BIOS. Having now left the drive for a few months and tried it again, Windows still does not see the drive, but BIOS does if you leave it to detect it for about a minute (so obviously it is taking its time to spin up so a quick post isn't detecting it, but going into BIOS gives it time)
Does anyone know anyway of slowing down the BIOS quick post speed so that it will detect it before Windows starts and we can recover the data off it.
TIA
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Does anyone know anyway of slowing down the BIOS quick post speed so that it will detect it before Windows starts and we can recover the data off it.
- Turn off quick POST.
- Press the pause button during the memory test, or before the IDE detect.
- Press space bar to continue when you think the drive has warmed up enough.
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Mike Farrow
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There is no way of slowing the bios down per say, and unfourtunately disk bios booting is very early in the bios boot process.
why dont you
1/ connect the drive to ide and power
2/ boot machine into bios
3/ leave powered up for a while so drive gets warm and spinning
4/ perform a soft reset so drive is not powered down
5/ see if bios see drive
6/ keep powered up, soft reboot (so it dont power down) into windows (hopefully)
I dont hold out much hope tho, I think its toast.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I've just come across an extension for Firefox that might be of interest. It's called Peekko and allows you to chat with people who are viewing the same website as you, with a chat bar at the top of the page. No signing up required. It's pretty amazing and might be terrifically useful for the technical threads. It would also remove the inane banter from the forum.
Anyway, thought it might be interesting.
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Re Peekko.
Interesting extension, but presumably just for FF users.
It might also be regarded as circumventing the purpose of these forums...:-)
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No, not circumventing, adding. The forums are for actual information; this is a more social thing. And it still requires page views, which is what the advertisers (and HJ) want.
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I have just uninstalled the Avant Web Browser and I am running the Slim Browser instead. I find it generally faster but have one irritating problem. My desktop shortcuts to various websites no longer work, they open up the printer options menu instead of takeing me to the particular website I want.
Any ideas for a fix?
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What does this error message mean: .dll not registered?
Just spent a couple of hours trying and failing to install a (Belkin) wireless networking card on a neighbour's laptop (XP Home SP2). He's a pretty tech savvy (former IT teacher at a local college) and clued up, but was stuck and kept getting this message after installing the drivers. Tried the newest drivers from Belkin too and the same thing. This is a relatively recent and fully patched install of Windows.
Anyway, what causes it and how can we fix it?
Actually the card did work, but couldn't hold a connection for more than ten seconds even though the router was 15 cm away.
I've recently been advised by an expert that Windows is plug and play, so imagine my disappointment.
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Baskerville, I've got a Belkin card/router. Bit of a long shot but is the Belkin software and the XP wireless software tripping over each other ? Its quite a while since I did mine but I seem to remember something about it being an either/or rather than both !
There was a question in the setup routine which allowed you to turn off windows, alternatively can you not uninstall the Belkin stuff and rely on XP ?
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Have you tried here?
www.belkin.com/uk/support/tech/index.asp
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Yes, tried that, but couldn't find anything that wasn't in the manuals. A support question has been filed anyway, but that could take a while.
It's this error message that's bugging me. What might cause that? Norton?
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>>alternatively can you not uninstall the Belkin stuff and rely on XP ?
uninstalls on its own if trying to reinstall
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Steve
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Pezzer
Yes, that was a bit confusing. The Belkin software allowed you to switch it off, but the XP setup didn't seem to want to let us use WPA-PSK encryption, so it really has to be the Belkin (unless anyone knows how to sort that out). The XP wireless didn't seem to be running, but there was no option to switch it off. Maybe that's automatic now.
steve.o
I wondered about the card itself, but this error message on installing the software suggests looking there first.
The driver seemed to install ok and then after the reboot we'd get this .dll not registered malarkey.
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>>Actually the card did work, but couldn't hold a connection for more than ten seconds even though the router was 15 cm away.
Had this on my laptop,turned out to be faulty,also had 4 replacements so far in 3 months,this last one is so far working ok so fingers crossed :)
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Steve
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Despite the seemingly obvious configuration, XP's PnP OS setting in the Bios should be set to No and not Yes.
Plug and Play still works as intended.
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A DLL not registered usually indicates that the install routine did not write a line in the registry that should have referred to it.
I have never manually registered a DLL but I have manually registered other files (*.ax files for windows codecs) ; this was done using Regsvr32.exe in a DOS window or from the start-> Run box.
That works as long as you know the path to the unregistered file and its name.
Of course the error message you have may be a misnomer and something totally different may be making the system (incorrectly) *think* that an unregistered file is the issue.
Chris Muriel, Manchester
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thats the correct command to register a dll. If the dll isnt registered and it isnt a standard windows dll then somethings wrong with the install. Did the install need to be run as an administrator and was actually done as standard user ?
Couple of things I would check first.
is there a firmware update for the card
Are you using the very latest software for the card (download it rather than using whatever is on the cd)
Is there a firmware update for the router ?
What sort of router is it - I've seen some routers not behave well with some cards, esp when mixing standards eg B router and G card.
Try and get it going to start with without any encryption. Then you can worry about setting up security when you know that things work at all.
How do you set the keys ? Is it pass phrase or hex direct entry ? Is it the same on card and router ?
What mode are you running in on the router and on the card ?
Personally I dont rate belkin - consumer products and usually overpriced. I like netgear.
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>>Personally I dont rate belkin - consumer products and usually overpriced.>>
You surprise me with that comment.
Belkin products are highly regarded on computer forums and with special praise for its after sales service.
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Stuartli, I have seen this said before by several 'tecchies', but I have to say my experience of their support was first class a couple of years ago.
I have helped colleagues set up both Netgear and Dlink wireless routers and neither of them worked within 5mins out of the box like my Belkin and the setup instructions were poor in comparison.
All IMHO of course!
P
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I too have had good experiences of Belkin however I have recently put a Belkin USB Wirless device on my old 98SE workstation for one of my kids (it was previously wired to the router) and it now take a long time to start up and close down, it seems that this could be a Belkin specific issue though I have not resolved it.
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Well if we are having a Belkin survey.
Used them for many years. The build quality is always excelent albeit expensive.
However if it gets anywhere remotley technical to do with software, microcode and inteligent boxes I steer well clear.
IMHO they have always been non bog standard and difficult to set up, and integrate poorly with the os. Nothing belkin seems plug and play.
My opinion of course
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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>>both Netgear and Dlink wireless routers >>
My son's first wireless router a few years back was a D-Link 504 which, he quickly found, had a built-in "bug".
D-Link Support suggested a remedy, which didn't work, and eventually conceded under pressure that it was a known fault. He got his money back.
He's an IT support consultant with one of the UK's biggest employers and if he couldn't sort it out then no one would be able to do so...:-)
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>>>>Personally I dont rate belkin - consumer products and usually overpriced.>>
Overpriced....I bought a Belkin USB WiFi adaptor, for SWMBO's nice shiny new Dell PC, in PC World yesterday, cost a whole 15 quid! Up & ruuning fine once I'd persuaded it that I was a cheapskate using peer to peer networking rather than a router:-)
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Thanks to all who've helped with this. I'll reply to mark99 as he has a lot of questions.
We checked firmware updates for the card and router (more on that router in a bit). Likewise we downloaded the latest driver for the card. The same error occurred with both the supplied and the downloaded drivers; he's running as admin, by the way. The router is a Netgear MIMO router and I wonder if you're onto something with the idea of interoperability. Seems weird though. We successfully connected (in seconds) two Macs, so the router itself is fine.
>How do you set the keys ? Is it pass phrase or hex direct entry ? Is it the same on card and router ?
It's a pre-shared key, identical on router and clients. We didn't disable encryption because it was working with other machines, but maybe that's worth a try. We even tried various different channels as there are a few networks in the vicinity.
I've passed on the comments here and we'll see what happens.
I like Netgear too, though my current router is a Draytek and it's been excellent, running since last November-ish.
Cheers
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.... > Home Page allows a preferred home page to be selected, however on my Acer laptop when ever I set a new home page it reverts to the default Acer Europe home page upon a restart, I would not mind this but for the fact that the Acer Euro URL has changed so I simply get an error page.
I assume that this is a registry tweak by Acer, any ideas?
Just to say I dont want to use Mozilla, Firefox etc etc, thanks.
Regards.
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Hmmm. Check it's not running anything silly during startup
START - RUN - msconfig
(have a dig around).
If nothing is obvious, have a hunt around the registry ( CAUTION! easy to stuff up your computer using the registry!! Be careful)
START - RUN - regedit
Then do a search for the website it's changing to - something like www.acer.co.uk (CTRL-F)
Alternatively, you might find that adaware, spybot or windows defender (antispyware beta as was) will find the culprit.
Let us know how you get on
Lee -- Without bills, magazines and junk mail, there is no mail
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Alternatively, you might find that adaware, spybot or windows defender (antispyware beta as was) will find the culprit.
One of these programs probably will solve the problem: they often object to the page being something other than the default, even if you've changed it yourself!
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Thanks Lee,
I have fiddled around in the registry before so no probs. Ok, I have identified the line that records the URL and removed the value, I have then set a new home page in Internet Options and can see that the value in the registry now shows this URL, so problem solved until I next want to change the home page, i.e. why does the "Use Current" instruction only apply until the machine is restarted? I dont have this problem on other machines.
Also out of interest what in msconfig could apply to this?
Regards.
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Hi
msconfig will allow you to see what's loading at startup - if you're lucky there'd have been an entry somewhere for AcerHomePageKnackerer....
I suspect there's a hack (and part of the build from acer) on your computer somewhere that loads the value into default homepage after the computer starts up (overwriting your choice); you may find it loads a blank value there now, but you could of course fix this by changing the value from blank to www.honestjohn.co.uk/ !!
Glad you're sorted
Lee
Lee -- Without bills, magazines and junk mail, there is no mail
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cheddar:
article here (8th down the page) explains how to protect your desired new home page from any "hijacks"
mvps.org/winhelp2002/ietips.htm
Protecting Your Internet Explorer ....
.... Set your Home Page then disable the ability to change it via a Registry restriction. ....
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msconfig will allow you to see what's loading at startup>>
I see what you mean re a start up application, well there is nothing obvious.
I suspect there's a hack>>
Perhaps was a hack and I have now un hacked it, I will know when I restart and will post again.
Regards.
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Turned the laptop off then on again, chosen home page still there so all sorted, with thanks.
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Result!!
Lee -- Without bills, magazines and junk mail, there is no mail
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Are you first bringing up the home page you wish to use and then selecting Use Current Page>Apply>OK in sequence in the configuration?
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Its probably a hacked, sorry customised, version of IE. It has probably been altered with the resource kit.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I have installed this bit of software , that I've had a few years, on my new PC as it's so easy to use for resizing pics etc. I've got Paint Shop Pro 8 also but, prefer this for quickness.
Anyway, I'm unable to run it and get the message "Insufficient Memory" when I try to start it. I have 1Gb of RAM and a huge hard drive, so it's not lack of RAM. Does anyone have any ideas? It worked perfectly well on my old computer with a mere 348 Mb.
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I vaguely remember getting this program with a printer or scanner quite a few years ago, so I'm guessing it's quite old.
If it worked OK on an older PC, you could try running it in compatibility mode for an earlier version of Windows. To do this, right click on its shortcut, select 'Properties' and go to the third tab in the box that appears. This will enable Windows XP to pretend to be an earlier version.
If this doesn't solve your problem, Irfanview, a nice little freebie from www.irfanview.com (download both the program and the plugins to get all the features) will resize and crop photos very nicely and it's a much simpler program than the likes of Paintshop Pro.
Alternatively, get the Image Resizer PowerToy from tinyurl.com/2meyw . This enables you to right click on a picture to resize it.
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To add to Welliesorter's suggestion of the excellent Irfanview (don't forget the plug-ins as weel), you could also have a look at PixResizer (bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm) which can be used with individual or batch files; a superbly simple photo editing utility is Picassa2 (a free offering from Google) at picasa.google.co.uk/
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Thanks Stu and Wellie.
I've downloaded Irfanview which seems great.
I tried to change the compatibility mode for Photo De Luxe and was unable to do so.
Incidentally, I got an error message that "Folder specified C/program files etc. is not valid....." I wonder if there is a conflict with Adobe Photo Downloader?
Anyway, I've uninstalled Photo De Luxe - got it with my former state of the art Kodak Digital camera eight or nine years ago. I've now got a Canon EOS 350D.
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>>I tried to change the compatibility mode for Photo De Luxe and was unable to do so.
Is that version 3.1 if so I use it,But never had any problems and still works well.have you tried file preferences and adjusting memory its allowed to use,I know its default value is very low, also an eps parser update is needed
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Steve
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Since I started using cheap inks rather than Epson's own, my Epson Stylus Color 240 printer has started depositing smears and smudges of ink on letters and envelopes. Is this likely to be down to ink quality?
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My bin is full of dead epson printers killed by cheap ink. I never learned. They get bloked or get incontinent. Either way it happens after rubish ink
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I bought an Epson R300 about five months ago brand new on e-Bay - I got it for quite a bit less as I opted for compatible cartridges to be supplied (a full set of six genuine Epson cartridges is about £65 to £70 retail when the first set runs out!).
I'm still using these original compatible cartridges (done about 50-60 6x4s and some A4 photos, plus infrequent text printouts) and, although I might use the printer only about four or five times a week to print off some web pages, its output is always excellent.
I also bought some more of the same brand compatible cartridges from another supplier (£13+ for two full sets) as backup.
On Friday night I learned of a full set of compatibles being available from www.diskdepot.co.uk for the almost unbelievable price of £3.98.
I immediately ordered three full sets and the total cost was £17.81 including delivery by CityLink - they arrived today and are a Sumvision product (a name I already knew). Capacity is 19ml per cartridge, higher than some others.
It will be a while before I'll be using them, but just the thought of the fact that three equivalent genuine Epson sets would be getting on close to £200 makes you realise why Epson is so keen to stop the sales of compatible cartridges for its products.
But I don't recall Seiko (parent company of Epson) trying to stop counterfeit models of its Pulsar, Lorus or Seiko watches going on sale, although I could very well be wrong...:-)
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Probably a simple answer to this but I don't know it!
Lots of my emails arrive with ***SPAM*** at the beginning of the title. Most of these are spam and I would like to stop them arriving (offers for Rolex watches by the dozen, daft investment opportunities etc) but, some emails that i would like to continue to receive also have this (Martin's Money Tips, wifes EGG card account etc)
So, where does ***SPAM*** message come from?
How to I get rid of it on some emails?
How do I them stop other ***SPAM*** messages arriving?
I use IE 6
Outlook Express
AVG virus thingy
Zonealarm
Thanks for any help
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Phil
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Your ISP is putting them through a Mailwasher program and rather than dump them put ****spam** on them so you can auto filter.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Quick reply!! Thanks TVM, but how do I keep some (or un ***SPAM*** them) and reject all the other real spam ones I don't want?
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Phil
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PS
My ISP is Wanadoo
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Phil
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www.wanadoo.co.uk
click help at the bottom, put spam in as the search argument, and choose item 1 of 3
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Thanks again TVM, but the link you provided only deals with how to change things on Wanadoo e-mail not that on outlook express. (I think!)
Is it a problem with OE that I cannot change?
Cheers
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Phil
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It is Wanadoo that is adding the prefix to the mail before it gets to you not your OE. Sounds a bit of a crude system though.
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Is it a problem with OE that I cannot change?
>>
as others have said, it is a wanadoo filter that you need to adjust. follow tvm's link and find:
Tag mail as not spam
If you find an email in your Inbox or Junk Mail folder, that you've requested to receive, however it's been tagged as spam in the subject line with ***spam*** you can also let us know from your Inbox or Junk Mail folder.
To do this, place a check in the box next to the message.
Click on Mark as and select Not Spam
You can then choose to add the person you consider is not a spammer to your 'Approved List' or if in your 'Junk Mail' folder, move to your Inbox. By doing this, any future messages from the senders email address will not be tagged as spam.
Note: If you don't have the option to 'Mark as' and select 'Not Spam' you can confirm settings in My Settings to enable this option.
etc. etc.
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Phil,
You need to log into your wanadoo account online, then *train* it not to add the word SPAM to your email subject headers.
From their homepage ( www.wanadoo.co.uk/ ) type in your account details, and login.
Open relevant emails that have SPAM in the subject header and click the button that says "mark as not spam"
Logout, then download as normal to Outlook Express.
You'll have to do this occasionally as Wanadoo have a habit of deciding what is spam and what isn't - and from expereince they often get it wrong.
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Thanks DD (and dalg and TVM) - think that might have cracked the problem. Will let you know!! - I'm a bit thick about these matters and need step by step instructions in simple words.
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Phil
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Hi techie guys - long time no speak!
I've bought the wife a new PC and want to move the one I'm currently using to another room in the house. When I last opened up the casing of this 1999 W98 machine I noticed a small CR2032 type cell was being used as the Bios/CMOS ??? back-up which is now obviously 7 years old. If I uplug this PC for any length of time what are the chances that this back-up will fail and, if it does, what do I do to restart my PC properly? Some years ago I had a similar problem when the rechargeable back-up cell on another PC failed and each time I turned on I had to enter all sorts of stuff (hard drive type/sectors etc. etc. etc.) in a DOS type screen just to get it started! Luckily I had a mate who knew what he was doing and told me what I had to do but we've now lost touch and I don't have any of that info for this machine. I have a start-up disc but that's about it.
Can anyone help?
Cheers all.
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I'd guess you'd only need enter the time and date, and maybe accept the disk it's chosen as the start disk.
You can get the batteries for a few quid on eBay and elsewhere.
But then I could be wrong...
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as far as i was aware this battery was for password protection only and if removed and replaced all passwords were cleared.
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\"a little man in a big world/\"
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Passwords are stored within the data on the hard drive, these batteries rarely fail and even if one does the PC will use default BIOS settings and boot OK though as has been said time and date will have to be set.
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BIOS level passwords aren't on the disk - they are in the BIOS!
Probably lost if the battery dies...
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BIOS level passwords aren't on the disk - they are in the BIOS! Probably lost if the battery dies...
Sorry yes, I was thinking login etc, IIRC if the battery is removed or fails then the BIOS will default which will mean no passwords etc. I recall a colleague doing this a few years ago to get into the passworded BIOS to change the boot order.
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VM! Long time no speak!
Usually when the CMOS battery is going to pack in, other funny stuff starts happening. Mum's laptop keeps losing the time which is a good sign that it's on it's way out but I've been too lazy to change it.
www.rlrouse.com/computer-loses-time.html
That site may be of interest to you. It claims 3 years for the batteries though. Yours has lasted far longer than that! In fact, I've never known one fail in such a short amount of time but our computers tend to get left on an awful lot.
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>>I noticed a small CR2032 type cell was being used as the Bios/CMOS ??? back-up which is now obviously 7 years old. >>
I've never had to replace a motherboard CMOS battery in the last 10 years since first acquiring a system to use at home rather than that available at work.
By the way, my best mate, who runs an independent audio/visual/appliances outlet, sells top brand CR2032 batteries (a very common model) for little more than a pound each; that's in direct contrast to the rip off charges at some major high street outlets.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Hi Adam and thanks to everyone else for the replies.
No problem getting the CR2032 batteries - I have loads as I use them for other things - got them from Screwfix for about a quid each IIRC. I was just worried that I might be left high and dry if that battery failed and the PC wouldn't start up properly. If that happens but it's just a case of altering a few basic settings, no problem but when it happened on the old machine (IIRC bought in 1992, W3.1. but don't know if that makes any difference) each time I turned the PC on I had to manually enter stuff via a Dos type screen to do with the type of hard drive installed, how many sectors on it etc. etc. I don't have that info. for this PC and it's all gobbledegook to me anyway, hence my concern now!
If a start-up disc is all that's really required if this problem happens then there should be no problems as I have the original Dell disc and one I made myself. If, however, I should be doing something else to deal with thie problem, I'd rather know now.
Yes I know I'm a worrier but......... ;)
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MM,
Pcs have moved on a bit since then, they all now autocheck the drive info and self set up and boot in a safe working default mode if battery looses cmos memory. All you loose now is time and date.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Thanks Stuartli and TVM (RF).
That's reassuring but just to clarify TVM are you saying that this 1999 vintage PC ought to be OK?
Also, Stuartli, if I do want to note down the Bios settings, how do I do that?
(please tell me it's easy :))
Cheers guys!
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Yes 99 in bios terms is fairly recent. It will be fine
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Cheers RF - a round of virtual beers is behind the bar for you all :)
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>>if I do want to note down the Bios settings, how do I do that?>>
To get into the Bios normally, though not always depending on the company who provides it, is to press the Delete button just after booting up your system. A message should appear stating what method to use.
You will see a number of various Bios features. Use the arrow keys to highlight each one in turn, hit Enter to open it and take a note of the settings.
Then press Esc to come out of each section, move on to the next and, again, note the settings.
Do this until each section has been covered and then, after the final Esc, use F10 to Save and Exit (just to make sure you don't lose any).
The system will now boot up normally into Windows.
When you replace the battery you can reenter the Bios and check that the settings are still intact. If not, you can redo them and, again, F10 for Save and Exit.
I changed my motherboard just recently and the previous one was still using a Bios from 2000 - if the system is running without problems there's normally no real need to update it. In any case reflashing the Bios can prove a disaster if not done properly.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Cheers Stuartli - helpful as ever!
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If you replace the battery reasonably quickly, the settings should be retained.
Normally the battery has to be taken out for quite a while to lose the settings.
Might be a good idea first to jot down the various Bios settings before changing the battery, although the default settings could be used if necessary initially.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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The other settings that will be lost are things like if onboard sound or graphics have been disabled to allow sound or graphics cards to be fitted then BIOS default will renable them which could cause driver conflicts though no real problems.
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Posted ages ago about thinking of getting an iMac. Got an old G3 and updated it to OSX 10.2. Pretty good really, worked fine considering its age.
Persuaded work that I needed a newer Mac to explore Video Conferencing (Yes, i know, but I needed some excuse).
Have been using the Dual core iMac for just over a week now and it's absolutely excellent. Great screen, super fast and is a real pleasure to use. Even the mighty mouse scrolly thing is becoming my preferred rodent over the trusty Tiltwheel Microsoft Optical mouse.
There's a couple of things that were a bit confusing at first, but I can see that the next purchase of a PC for home is more likely to contribute to Steve Jobs' black T-shirt collection and not Michael Dell's severe haircuts.
If you're looking for something to surf the net with, edit photos, make comic strips(!), play DVDs or do the usual Office stuff, you should really check out OSX 10.4.5.
It even ships with a version of chess that doesn't murder me every time....
Lee -- Without bills, magazines and junk mail, there is no mail
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I'm not sure of the Lidl weekly offers are the same in the UK as they are here in Spain, but coming up (3rd April)is a 19 inch TFT monitor for 279 Euros - about £185. There is also an offer for a set of a wireless mouse and a keyboard for19.99 Euros - about 15 quid.
Roger. (Costa del Sol, España)
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Its bike week from thursday (tomorrow) the screen is up on the third april - £199
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Its bike week from thursday (tomorrow) the screen is up on the third april - £199
Some of these computing offers aren't available in the whole country. Check the Lidl web site for details.
Aldi, on the other hand, have a rather nice looking PC and some other computer items on sale tomorrow.
I also had a flyer advertising a clearance offer on Aldi's Medion sat nav. £179.99 if I recall correctly. I don't know about availability of this.
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Microdirect is selling the 19" AG Neovo F419 12ms Black DVI TFT Monitor (3yrs onsite warranty) for £176 (about £187 with p and p):
tinyurl.com/ph3jk
One of the offspring bought one recently and it's a cracking monitor; DVI cable include which is worth £15-20 alone. Just one dead pixel...:-)
I ordered it for him as he's out at work all day and it was delivered here next morning.
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.... an improvement over previous versions?
www.deanliou.com/WinRG/
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Looks pretty normal to me!
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Somebody's been watching Click on BBC News 24...
Lee -- Without bills, magazines and junk mail, there is no mail
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