Windows Tips

Infopackets Reader 'Faskia' writes: " Dear Dennis, One of my PCs is now failing to connect to the Internet, and is showing a Security Warning screen on a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). The blue background reads, 'A fatal error in IE has occured at ... 0028.C0011E36 in VXD VMM(01)+00010E36. Error was caused by Trojan-Spy.HTML.Smitfraud.c.' Would you please give me some simple steps to remove Smitfraud from my PC? " My response: The problem is that your computer has been infected with Spyware. According to the F-Secure web site, Trojan-Spy.HTML.Smithfraud.c is a phishing scam where "a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bill M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just finished reading last week's Gazette article entitled, " Print MP3 Playlist? ", and have a related question that I'd like to ask. For several years, I've been using both Macintosh and PC ... systems for graphic design. On a Macintosh system, it is possible to print the file and directory structure for a folder being examined when using File Manager (the equivalent of Windows Explorer). However, I have yet to find this feature present in MS Windows! My work-around (thus far) has been to press Shift + PrintScreen on my keyboard ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Kathy W. writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your newsletter! Thanks so much for doing it -- it's been a great help in the past! Here's my problem: I have a lot of mp3s stored in the My Documents Folder, and I want to burn them all to a ... CD and then print out the playlist. However, I can't seem to figure out a way to print out my list. Can you help? Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated! " My response: You can print your MP3 playlist with WinAmp [free] using one of two methods: 1. Load Winamp, then click CTRL + ALT + G to Generate the HTML playlist, or 2. ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ernest A. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am very far from computer support, and could really use your help! For the last two weeks, I have been fiddling with Windows Movie Maker in an attempt to create a brief over view of my two ... back-to-back tours of duty in Iraq. The sequence includes photographs (stills) and some short movie clips that I took with my digital camera and some voice-overs with background music. Today, I completed the project had Windows Movie Maker render a low-quality sample as a 'trial run'. That went without a hitch, so I decided to render a higher- ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Leonard M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I sure hope you can help with this one -- My web page links will not open properly in Outlook Express (OE). Often times, I'll try and click a link in an email, and it just opens a blank window and ... goes no further. The links simply won't open! I had to copy and paste your web address into the Internet Explorer (IE) address box in order to get here -- and it's a royal pain in the butt! I am thinking that maybe my Popup Stopper or Spyware programs have done something to my system and I'm not sure how to get the link functionality back. ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ryan L. writes: " Dear Dennis, How do I share the Outlook Express 6 message store over the network? If I load Outlook Express, then click Tools -> Options -> Maintenance -> Store Folder -> Browse -> [choose a ... network drive], Outlook Express simply *will not* let me choose the network drive I want. The "OK" button is grayed out. I've tried mapping a network drive [drive C on another computer made to operate as Drive Z on my computer], but that won't work, either. Any suggestions? " My response: I've tried doing the same thing in the past, ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader David J. writes: " Dear Dennis, I seem to have lost 'Rover The Dog' Search Companion (Start -> Search in Windows XP). Somehow, Rover got off his leash and has now been replaced with MSN Search. I would like very much to put ... Rover back onto the left side of my computer screen, as he has always been a faithful companion to me and my Dell computer that I bought back in 1998. The funny thing is: Rover is still on my 'Search for files and Folders' page, but not on some of my other pages. Can you help me in getting Rover to Stay? " My response: I've been asked this ( ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ken T. writes: " Dear Dennis, In mid-May of this year, you posted an article concerning " Which web browser is the most secure ?" In the article, you commented on using FireFox as an alternative to Internet Explorer because it's ... more compact, uses less system resources, and most of all -- because it supports Tabbed Web Browsing. As you have discussed, Tabbed web browsing allows the user to reference multiple web pages using 'tabs' at the top of the browser, rather than referencing each individual page via the Task Bar near the bottom of the screen. My comment ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'P.S. Liew' writes: " Dear Dennis, Over the years, my 'temp' folder in Windows [located at c:\windows\temp] has gathered quite a substantial amount of temporary, space-eating files as well as Internet browser history items such as ... cookies, cache and the like. I am contemplating whether or not I should delete these files in order to reclaim hard disk space, but prior to doing so, I would like to get some pointers from you as to which selection of files in this folder is safe to delete. Am I wrong to assume that it is safe to completely delete all files in c:\windows\ ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Charles M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have Windows Media Player installed on my system, which is okay for the majority of media files I play. A few of my friends have tried Rhapsody, Real Player, Dell MusicMatch, and such, and have ... urged me to use these players on my own system. If I decided to use one player versus another, don't I have to uninstall the others? If I don't, and put the others on hold in the recycle bin, will it impede my listening on my Windows Media Player? How do I uninstall these players, if that is what I need to do? I purchased this system (a Dell ... (view more)