Dennis Faas

In the May 21st, 2003 issue of the Infopackets Gazette, I asked readers if they knew of a freeware document converter for MS Word .DOC files: Word Perfect 2000 won't read MS Word documents? Unfortunately, I did not receive many software suggestions. ... My guess is that most users have MS Word installed on their machines and have little need for such a conversion utility... thus the reason for low response. Nevertheless -- Infopackets Reader Jim P. recommended (what appears to be) an excellent freeware replacement for MS Office, called 602 Pro PC Suite: " You wanted to know if there is a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Cleo writes: " I have tried putting Microsoft Word in my Send To Menu a dozen times: it shows up in the send to folder in the C drive, but won't show up in the Send To Menu. Any ideas? " My response: It is possible that the Send ... To shortcuts were placed in the wrong SendTo folder. For Windows 9x and NT, the SendTo folder location is C:\Windows\SendTo. For Windows 2000 and XP, the whereabouts of the [current] SendTo folder depends on which user logged in to the machine. The Send To feature allows users to launch a file using a program which has not been previously ... (view more)

Bob and Jenny P. write: " For some reason, when I click on an email address link on an email rather than getting the email box, it tries to go to internet explorer opening about 50 explorer boxes.... and the right of my bottom panel bar lights up ... (task scheduler icon, volume icon, avg, icon, etc.) Any idea how to fix this? " My response: This question has been answered before in a previous issue dated January 7, 2003: Web Links in Outlook Express won't work?, Part 2 Since this question comes up quite often *and* largely depends on repairing Internet Explorer, I've decided to provide ... (view more)

Today, David M. sent me an email asking me how to go about Repairing Internet Explorer: " Hello Dennis! The May 20, 2003 issue of the Gazette mentioned the very useful Internet Explorer Repair Tool, accessed from Add/Remove Programs in Control ... Panel. In the past, this method has worked for me when using Win98 and IE5. However, I now run Win2K and IE6 and the IE Repair Tool isn't listed in the Add/Remove Programs, so I can't repair it. Do you or any of your learned readers have any ideas, please? " My Response: I get asked this question a lot from readers, so I've decided to provide ... (view more)

Recall -- In the past 48 hours, my computer has been utterly bombarded with the W32.sobig.b@mm.html email virus. The worm clogged my mailbox so severely that I wrote an article about it in the last newsletter . Today, I received an email from a user ... named Andrew with a suggestion for anti-spam filtering software: " Hi, Dennis! Sorry to hear about your virus problems. In your last newsletter, you suggested using free anti-virus software and a firewall, in addition to Outlook Express message rules to combat the W32.sobig.b@mm.html email virus. What about using a spam killer? One of my ... (view more)

Today I received well over 200 virus-infected emails, courtesy of the W32.sobig.b@mm.html and Friendship Screensaver worm / virus. So, why do I get bombarded with email viruses more than the average Joe? The answer to my dilemma is compound. Since ... literally thousands of users have emailed me in the past ... and because mail programs such as Outlook / Outlook Express automatically save contacts [email addresses] once mail has been replied to, ... and and because most email viruses propagate through email Contact Lists: my email addresses have been become exceptionally targeted by email worms. ... (view more)

Today I received well over 200 virus-infected emails, courtesy of the W32.sobig.b@mm.html and Friendship Screensaver worm / virus. So, why do I get bombarded with email viruses more than the average Joe? The answer to my dilemma is compound. Since ... literally thousands of users have emailed me in the past ... and because mail programs such as Outlook / Outlook Express automatically save contacts [email addresses] once mail has been replied to, ... and and because most email viruses propagate through email Contact Lists: my email addresses have been become exceptionally targeted by email worms. ... (view more)

Last week, Douglas M. told me how the Address Bar disappeared from his Internet Explorer: " I am running Windows 98 (second edition) with IE6 and recently the address bar at the top of the browser screen has disappeared. When I click View -> ... Toobars -> Address Bar, I cannot get it to return. Any suggestions? " My response: I forwarded a link from TechTV: the site suggested that the Address Bar may have been inadvertently repositioned and, consequently, hidden. Recall: " If your address bar has disappeared from Internet Explorer, right-click on a toolbar and make sure ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Douglas M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am an avid reader of your newsletter, and it is definitely the BEST free support publication for users of Windows operating systems -- I recommend Infopackets Gazette whenever appropriate! I ... wonder whether you can help me with a problem? I am running Windows 98 (second edition) with IE6 and recently the address bar at the top of the browser screen has disappeared. When I click View -> Toobars -> Address Bar, I cannot get it to return. Any suggestions? " My response: I was unable to find a resolution to this problem by ... (view more)