Windows Tips

Infopackets Reader Don W. writes: " I have Windows 98 second edition. Just recently when windows is loading it gives an error popup; A required DLL file -- DDRAW.DLL -- was not found. Windows seems to operate as usual, but I really don't know what ... this file does and how to resolve this problem. Do you have a suggestion? " My Response: Click Start -> Find -> Files / Folders and type in the DLL file name. The result should come up with a folder that the DLL has been installed to -- this should give you an indication what the program is for. After that, you can attempt to ... (view more)

Last week's Visitor Feedback question asked, "How how can I tell what programs are taking all my space in my hard drive?" My first thought to this question was to use a minimalist approach, because I believe in "doing things myself" -- providing ... that the proposed solution is relatively simple. If you recall, my answer to the above question was straightforward: right-click on a folder and display its folder Properties, and have Windows display its disk usage. This gives a very general idea as to how much space was being used by an installed program. Fact: Programs that are ... (view more)

My last attempt to show how to remove MSN Messenger from Windows XP appeared to worked fine for me, but I received emails from folks who have MSN Messenger popping up in their face *still* whenever AOL is loaded or whenever there is an update. Death ... to MSN Messenger -- for good. Jeff R. sent me his thoughts and a final solution to remove MSN Messenger from the Windows Registry: " It appears that your previous article is confusing Windows Messenger with MSN Messenger*. These are both separate programs. Windows Messenger is the one that installs with Windows XP. * The "Windows ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Victor V. writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your newsletters and read them every time I receive it. I have a question for you and I hope you can help. Can you tell me how can I tell what programs are taking all my space in my hard ... drive and how to remove them? I am running out of space! " My Response: To get a general idea of what is installed on your system, you could start with the Add / Remove programs in the Control Panel. Here you will find a list of installed programs. Since all programs are installed to folders (99.99% of the time, anyway), you can then attempt ... (view more)

There's lots o' interesting news to tell you in this issue of the Gazette. Recall that October 16th's issue of the Gazette proposed the question of whether or not Kazaa (Sharman Networks) implemented some sort of cap on bandwidth (downloads). I ... received a few suggestions from our readers, and without further adieu, let me attempt coordinate some of their thoughts. Kooby writes: " I updated to Kazaa v2 to find this new thing called a kazaa participation level. Because I have a cable modem (high speed internet) with only mediocre upload speed, I don't share any files with other Kazaa ... (view more)

Since we're on the topic of Outlook Express, I thought I'd add more coal to the fire and ask the Infopackets Readers for yet another problem that I do not have the solution to. Here is what Harold S. says about his problem: " When I go to send out ... my pictures as an attachment (using Outlook Express), the recipient receives anywhere from 5+ of the same email (from me) in a row. I checked for a virus several different ways, and found none. I also found that the I cannot change the font size, change the colors in the font, and plagued by several other minor things I can't change and it all ... (view more)

It looks like yesterday's problem of Outlook Express not displaying images via email stirred up a lot of responses. I woke up today to find that my Inbox was jammed full of excellent suggestions from our Readers. First, let me explain who might be ... affected by missing pictures in Outlook Express 6: Anyone who has upgraded to, has installed a patch for, or uses Outlook Express 6 Anyone who installed Windows XP, or XP Service Pack 1. These people also have Outlook Express 6 installed on their system. From what I can gather, that pretty much sums it up. There were multiple solutions to the ... (view more)

I've recently received the same question multiple times -- and I can't figure out why it is that some users have such a hard time sending an image to a friend via email with Outlook Express? So, I'm going to ask for help on this one -- hopefully a ... Infopackets Reader can give me some insight. Here are some of the most recent questions I've received about missing pictures in Outlook Express: " Hello, Since I replaced Outlook Express 5 by Outlook Express 6, my photos sent by email in the text or as attachment disappear. All my friends complain that they only see a small box with a red X in ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Lim Chee A. writes: " Greetings from Malaysia! I have been subscribed to your Infopackets Newsletter since May 2002, and I really enjoy your work! I have a question though: What's the difference between GUI and skins? " My ... Response: GUI is a short-term word which means "Graphic User Interface". A skin is an extension of the GUI which changes the GUI appearance. If you're interested in changing the way that Windows looks, you might be interested in checking out these web sites: http://www.shellcity.net/ http://www.stardock.net/ http://www.wincustomize.com ... (view more)