Software

Infopackets Reader S. Doe writes: " I somehow inadvertently deleted Windows 98 'Picture Viewer' from my computer. Windows came pre-installed on my computer and I have all of the discs that came with it, and I think Picture Viewer is there somewhere. ... How do I figure out on which disk I can find it to reinstall that program? None of them list it specifically on the disk. Thanks in advance for your help! " My Response: If your computer came with a pre-installed copy of Windows, there is a good chance that the discs that also came with it may only contain a recovery disk image and will ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bruce W. writes: " I enjoy your newsletter very much and I also have a question. I read with interest your last article on Registry Backup and DLL Hell . In the past, I've found programs on the Internet that I'd really like to ... have (regardless of free or paid) and I've downloaded them to my computer. My question is: sometimes I download a program and it tells me something to the effect 'unable to locate DLL library: installation failure.' Why does this happen with some programs but not others? It's frustrating! " My response: The error message you received isn't ... (view more)

Today, Anne from Canada told me of a very strange situation with her computer. She writes: " Hi Dennis! I have a question. Sometimes there is an image under the email page, or Internet page, and it has a small eye with a white box and a red X in it. ... It annoys me, and I try to get rid of it, but nothing works. Could this be some sort of Spy, because that's what it reminds me of. It's not always there for long, and then disappears. Any ideas? " My Response: All I can say is: "that's weird!", and maybe you've got some type of Spyware installed on your system? I've never heard ... (view more)

With respect to yesterday's feature article, "SiS KHooker, DownloadWare, and Video Display Trouble?" (Gazette, 20030917), Sarah M. writes: " Dennis, I did some research on my own and found that SiS KHooker.exe is not a homepage hijacker (as far as I ... know). Here is the info on that from the answersthatwork.com task list [URL not given]: ' Khooker (KHooker.exe by Silicon Integrated Systems – SiS): Description: SiS Keyboard Daemon. System Tray utility which gets installed by the drivers of the latter day SiS VGA cards. The utility itself is not of much use in our opinion and may ...<a href="/news/9209/sis-khooker-downloadware-and-video-display-trouble-part-2" class="more-link">view more

Infopackets Reader Mary J. writes: " The problem I'm having is with my Windows 2000 OS. For some reason, I lost the options in my search category (Start -> Search). Do you have any idea how I can get them back? I don't remember now what I had ... installed that caused this problem, but it also happened to me on a computer that was running Windows ME. " My Response: Unfortunately, I have never experienced this problem before -- so I can only guess on a solution. I tried searching Google and Microsoft's Knowledge Base for an answer, but had a heck of a time trying to figure out what to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Doug D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I get a lot out of your newsletter and hope you can help me. There are many files listed in my Windows Startup, and some of the names appear more than once. I even have programs listed on my computer ... which no longer exist! How do I remove any unneeded listings? I removed the programs from the register using a RegCleaner, but they are still listed in the Startup. " My Response: I get asked this question quite often, and have commented on it before in the newsletter. The truth is that many of the programs listed in the Startup can be ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Colette C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I'm running Windows XP Professional and would like to know where I can find some easy-to-understand information about how to install and uninstall Windows XP themes. I'm having trouble try to ... disable the sounds which play when Maximizing and Minimizing a window. What can you suggest? " Side note: A theme for Windows consists of sounds and pictures which encapsulate a subject (for example: sports, art, computers, etc). Events on the PC coincide with particular sound files, such as opening or closing a window, or perhaps shutting ... (view more)

It appears that Infopackets Readers leave quite an impressionable footprint when visiting a web site that has been mentioned in the Infopackets newsletter. At least, that's what Andrew Finkle of Siber Systems informed me today. Since mid-April of ... this year, well over 2,000 Infopackets Readers have downloaded an installed RoboForm on their machine. Reminder: What is RoboForm? RoboForm remembers and completes web-form data on web sites. If you frequent sites which require login information (IE: user name and password) -- or, if you just plain hate filling out repetitive web-form data, RoboForm ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Stephen K. writes: " Dear Dennis, I’m running Outlook 2002 on a Windows XP-Home OS. Recently I cancelled one of my recurring appointments (a Weekly Meeting), and deleted it from my Outlook Calendar. Unfortunately, the same  ...reminder continues to show up on my Outlook Daily Reminder List. When I try to postpone or delete if from this list, I get the following messages: Error Message 1: 'Cannot turn off the reminder. You may be reminded again. The message you specified cannot be found.' Clicking OK, the only option, leads to the next error message. Error Message 2: 'There ...<a href="/news/9204/ms-outlook-reminder-stuck-loop" class="more-link">view more

Yesterday's Visitor Feedback question was sent in from Arlene M. In a nutshell, she asked if it was possible to make a window *always* stay on top of other windows, even after clicking or moving other windows. My response stated that, "If a window ... is active (IE: in use), it will remain on top of all other windows. Once another window is clicked or moved, it becomes the active window [and all other windows fall behind]." I also provided Arlene with some great keyboard shortcuts to make flipping through windows a real snap: A quick way to cycle through active Windows? Today, I ... (view more)