Dennis Faas

A few days ago, Ramnik S. asked how to alphabetically sort favorites (web page bookmarks) using Internet Explorer: " Hi Dennis! I thoroughly enjoy your newsletter. I find it informative and, even more importantly, fun to read! I have one question ... regarding the Favorites in Internet Explorer. Over time, as I keep on adding new favorites, the list of favorites no longer remains in alphabetical order. Under 'Organize Favorites', other than manually moving each address, there does not seem to be a way of automatically getting the list in alphabetical order. Is there a simple way to do this ... (view more)

Today's Feature Article about Sorting Favorites in Internet Explorer spurred some further thoughts about organization. I decided to write a separate "how to" article in this section of the newsletter because the two topics -- although slightly ... related -- deserve separate space. Cleaning up items: using Explorer instead of the Organize Favorites option I mentioned earlier that there is an option in the Favorites Menu which allows for the manual manipulation of bookmarks. The Organize Favorites option houses 4 basic operations: Create Folder, Rename, Delete, and Move to Folder. ... (view more)

Last week, Dee N. had a question concerning the Internet Explorer download-dialogue box: " On the download Window, there is an option for 'Always ask before opening this type of file'. Well, I accidentally Unchecked this option -- and now, all my ... .ZIP files open automatically after each download completes! How can I turn this option back on? " My Response: I didn't know the answer to this question, so I asked Infopackets Readers for help. Mike K. [and about 40 other readers] informed me that the 'Always ask before opening ... ' option for .ZIP files can be resolved through modifying ... (view more)

Over the weekend, Lanny B. indirectly asked me a question about how to span an archive using WinBackup : " Hi Dennis! As always, love your newsletter! Keep up the good work. I'm writing today about WinBackup . It seems that the program currently ... does not support my CD-R/W burner (LITE-ON LTR-24102B). Whenever I try to run a backup and record to the burner, all I get is an error message which states that my 'CD-R/W drive is not supported.' There is no mention if / or when WinBackup will support the writer in the future. What can I do? " Recall -- WinBackup is a simple-to-use backup ... (view more)

This article is a bit technical and relies on know-how from a previous article I've written about RAID. In brief, the word 'RAID' is a techy-term which stands for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks. A hard disk array is simply a ... bunch of hard drives chained together. Benefits of using RAID are generally two-fold, and include: increased file read / write performance (known as RAID-0), and data redundancy for backup purposes (known as RAID-1). I've previously written an article about RAID if you would like to read up on it . It is very simplistic and explains RAID essentials ... (view more)

When a download link is clicked using Internet Explorer, a Window normally pops up asking where to save the file. Dee N. recently wrote me a very interesting question concerning the download-dialogue box: " On the download Window, there is an option ... for 'Always ask before opening this type of file'. Well, I accidentally Unchecked this option for my .ZIP files -- thinking that I wouldn't be prompted this Window any more and it would save automatically to my computer -- but, now it opens every single .ZIP file I download! Do you know how I can have Windows prompt me to save my files again ... (view more)

Not long ago, Barry M. from Africa sent me this email: " First off, thanks for all the great info! You've helped me come a long way with my PC confidence and knowledge. Much appreciated! I am running Windows XP Professional. The multiple user ... profile feature of XP is really handy, but I don't want to have separate email accounts in my Outlook Express. If it is possible, I would like all users to access the same information from their XP login accounts. At the moment, if I receive e-mails into my inbox while logged on under my profile, then those e-mails won't be visible to the next user ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ken K. writes: " Dear Dennis, I can't seem to get my Spell Check to work in Outlook Express. Whenever I try to run the spell check, Windows gives me an error message. I don't know how to correct this problem. Can you help? " My ... Response: Believe it or not, I've been asked this question many times. My own experience when searching for the answer to this question has always turned up quite a few results using Google -- most of which contained outdated information. I decided to do some thorough digging and eventually came across two Microsoft Knowledge Base articles ... (view more)

A little while back I was asked how to copy Address Book contacts onto another computer. Roberta C. asked: " Could you tell me if there is a way to copy my contacts in Outlook Express and load them onto another computer? " I provided a solution ... (complete with pictures) which details how to use the Export function in the Address Book: How do I export my Address Book contacts? Unfortunately, the Export function appeared ghosted (non-functional) for some folks, so I asked Infopackets Readers to send me their thoughts for an alternate solution: How do I export my Address Book contacts ... (view more)

Whe w! I've been so busy with the web site change-over that I wasn't able to compose a single newsletter last week. There's lots of new stuff to tell you about -- and it's a bit technical -- so bear with me! I'll do my best to explain it in simple ... English. First of all -- did you notice something different about this newsletter? The format of the newsletter has been completely overhauled and now contains new headers and user subscription information. The new format allows me to write only 1 version of the newsletter, and yet produce 2 separate versions for delivery in either HTML or text ... (view more)