dacs.doc electric

Random Access

Instant Replay: May 1999

Bruce Preston, Moderator

Q. When I try to delete a folder in Windows 95, I get an "Access Denied" message. How do I delete it? A. There are several causes: a) if a file in the folder is open, by an application (including a system application or process as the print spooler) or another user (if on a network), b) if there is a hidden file, c) it is a system folder (such as the Start Menu, or Recycle Bin, d) if the file is on a shared drive owned by another user and you don't have permission. Q. I moved several files to a ZIP disk. I don't have the disk anymore, and I don't have the files anymore either. They aren't in the Recycle Bin. What happened? A. A move is not the same as a delete. Files only go into the Recycle Bin when you delete them, and then only when you delete them via a Windows application. (So if you do it from a DOS Command window, they aren't put in the Recycle Bin.) When you do a move, the file is copied to the destination file, and upon success, removed from the original location without placing a copy in the Recycle Bin. (Background information: Deleting a file from within Windows is the same as moving the file to the Recycle Bin; you have only one copy of the file to work with.) Next time, COPY the file to the ZIP disk. Q. We need a peer-to-peer network, and want some sort of internal e-mail system. We have a web-site and can get the mail sent there to one machine, we would like other machines to see it as well. A. Take a look at http://search.internet.com/ and do a search on e-mail to get a list of about 130 e-mail systems reviews. Many of them are SMTP and POP3 servers, at prices from free for 5 mailboxes to several hundred for several hundred. Also, you might take a look at a hardware solution at http://www.atronics.com/esspec.html at the Internet Access 2000 e-mail server which expands one ISP mailbox (typically associated with a domain name, such as "xyz.com" into up to 250 local mailboxes (such as "sales@xyz.com") on your intranet. It works with any mail client, such as Eudora, Outlook, Communicator, etc. Q. When I get multiple attachments delivered to my AOL account, I can't get at the individual attachments. A. AOL doesn't deal with MIME attachments (the Internet standard) as AOL's system was originally written for a proprietary format. There is a freeware add on utility, "Aladin Expander" which can cure the problem - save the .MIM files to your hard drive, then drag and drop them onto Aladin Expander which will decode and display them. Others report that versions of WinZIP can unpack them. Q. I get a problem booting from my hard disk. I can boot from floppy. I formatted the hard disk and re-installed the operating system (DOS) - it still doesn't work. A. Make sure that the partition on the drive is set "active". Boot from floppy and then run an anti-virus program to make sure that the drive doesn't have a boot-sector virus. Since your drive is only a 250MB drive, it isn't likely to be a problem with an overlay manager such as supplied by Seagate and Maxtor. Q. Is there any way in Windows to designate a file as being non-moveable so as not to mess up the anti-duplication mechanism used by some vendors? A. Defragmentation utilities usually have an option called "exclude" which can be used to designate files that shouldn't be touched. Some of them know the commonly used files and look for them. Q. How do I insert a page break in WordPad? A. You can't. If you could, then people would use it instead of purchasing Word. But seriously, we have tried inserting the form-feed key (decimal 12, entered by holding down Alt and then typing 0, 1, and 2 on the keypad) doesn't work. The character doesn't show up in the Character Map utility either. We created the character in NOTEPAD, but couldn't cut-and-paste it into WordPad, as WordPad evidently uses a different character set for displaying on the screen and only converts to text when it saves (as .TXT) or prints. Q. I have an old Epson printer that can't print continous vertical lines; they have minute zigzags in them. How do I fix this? A. First, make sure that you have the most recent drivers--you can get them from the Epson Website. Check the "utility" page in the properties box to see if there is a head-alignment tool. Also, in the print dialog box see if there is an option (usually called "weave" or similar) which controls the speed vs. quality trade-off. The speed option usually lets the print head print bi-directionally, i.e., it also prints as the head is moved right-to-left. The zigzag can be cause by slack in the drive mechanism--printing in only one direction will reduce the impact of the slack. Q. I have an old 386 computer and Quicken version 3. Is there a way that I can transfer files to Quicken 99? A. Quicken 99 should be able to read the files. It probably will have to "convert" the files to Quicken 99 format, but probably can't convert them back to version 3 format. Q. I have a small business. Should I use Windows 98, Windows NT, or Linux? A. It depends on what you are going to be doing with the computer(s). If you need common business applications and need to share some files, then Windows 98 should be fine. If you need a large database, or have security requirements, then maybe Windows NT. If you have high volumes of transactions, and/or are going to be developing a custom application then perhaps Linux. (Note: Linux is essentially Unix--it doesn't normally have a graphical interface unless you add one such as the Caldera shell.) There are "Office Suites" available for all three levels of products. Just remember, that as you move up in complexity/power (with Windows 98 being the simplest) your needs for technical support/expertise also will increase.