Dennis Faas

Damyanti L. from the United Kingdom writes: " When I go on the Internet, there are some nasty ads popping up on my computer. I also have children using this system. Can you advise me on how I can stop these extremely rude pictures from popping up? ... Many thanks. " My Response: First of all, let me say that there are 3 types of "PopUp" advertisements that exist: Web PopUps, Spyware PopUps, and Messenger PopUps. Web PopUps only occur when the browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc) is loaded. In contrast, Spyware PopUps can appear even if you aren't connected to the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Peg M. asks: " Dear Dennis, Yesterday, I read your article on RoboForm. I use the Mozilla Firebird browser and was wondering: how can I install RoboForm installed on Firebird instead of Internet Explorer (which is used by ... default)? " My Response: For those of you who are just tuning in: RoboForm is a free web Browser 'plug-in' replacement for Internet Explorer's AutoComplete form feature. Some features of the free version include: Save / auto fill password info from login form, Automatic login to online accounts, Fill long online forms from Identities, and more. ... (view more)

Is your computer safe from the dangers of file-sharing? I know mine isn't. Just this past Monday, I received a message stating that the file I received (through Kazaa) was infected with malicious code that could harm my computer. I was lucky that my ... anti-virus program caught the malevolent program from infecting my machine, otherwise I would have launched the file completely blind that my actions may have corrupted my entire hard drive. Indeed, a scary thought. At this point, I paused for a moment and thought to myself, "Could there be other nasty software lurking on my computer that may ... (view more)

Recall -- Last week, I asked Infopackets Readers to send me their top picks for a freeware DVD player. Below are some of the responses I received (in no particular order). Jeff 'MrPianist' recommended DSPlayer: " DSPlayer is a free skinable DVD ... Player, which plays other multimedia formats as well. 100% no Spyware! Full compatibility with win 2000/XP; Supported formats avi, mpeg, mov, DVD, mp3, mid, wav, cda (AudioCD) ... requires Windows 9x/Me/2000/XP, DirectX 8 or higher. " http://www.freewarenetwork.com/description/dsplayer.html Keith, a retired Techie says: " Cinemaster DVD ... (view more)

Donna H. writes: " I have windows 2000 / NT. My administrative password timed out or somehow expired, and now I can't use any of the Administration computer management. How can I reset my Admin password? Thank you for reading this and any help is ... appreciated. " My response: I visited win2000mag.net and found instructions on how to use a program called Ntpasswd. The instructions given below are essentially verbatim, but have been changed slightly to "newbie speak" so it is easier to follow. http://www.win2000mag.net You can use Peter Nordahl's Ntpasswd tool to reset the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Louise S. writes: " I recently bought a DVD disc through eBay from a gentleman in Britain. When I tried to play it on the DVD player attached to my TV, a screen popped up saying I was in the wrong region. I then tried it in the ... CD-DVD player (Samsung) in my computer and it said the same thing. My computer, however, did allow me to change over to region 2, which is Europe, but will only allow me to switch back and forth between Regions 1 and 2 a total of 4 times, and then it becomes permanent. I don't want that to happen as only the one DVD is a region 2. Is there ... (view more)

Today's visitor feedback is based on the fact that I received two similar emails from Readers on the same day. Infopackets Reader Ric J. writes: " Can you please tell me a good DVD Decoder program to download, because the two I've tried didn't work. ... I'd like to find one that does so I can watch DVD's on my system. Thanks! " And, Felicitaz C. writes: " I have WinDVD 3.1 DVD player and cannot play DVD's anymore. Nothing happens when I try to play a DVD. I tried Help -> Troubleshoot and WinDVD suggested that I install a decoder or upgrade. When I did a little more searching I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Pam S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your newsletter and it has helped me very much! One problem I've been having with my computer is the inability to run Java Scripts over the web. When my computer tries to initiate Java, a ... Window appears and tells me that it is missing shortcuts and cannot continue to run. I was told by a friend that I will have to reformat and possibly change operating systems ... I found that Windows 2000 was too difficult to use, so at this point, I reformatted and installed Windows XP Pro. Will I have to reformat again? " My response: As I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve S. from Kentville, Nova Scotia writes: " Dear Dennis, Why is it desirable to backup windows driver files when I can use Windows System Restore to go back to a previous state of my computer's configuration in which everything ... was working fine? Is it because System Restore does not always restore all the necessary drivers? " My Response: As far as I understand, the Windows System Restore feature focuses primarily on restoring a working copy of the Windows Registry. As programs, operating system updates, and drivers are installed to a system, the Windows ... (view more)

Have you ever turned your computer speakers loud enough to hear some of your favorite .MP3s in another room -- only to come rushing back to your computer to turn the volume down because the next song playing is just too loud? That's what happened to ... me today. And with that in mind, I pondered whether or not there existed a freeware program that could normalize the volume of all my MP3s. As usual, I headed over to Google for the answer. I searched for "freeware mp3 normalize" and managed to find a fantastic little program called MP3Gain. From the Webattack.com web site: " ... (view more)