IT@TT - Online

Q: This is with reference to Sudipta Mukherjee's query (it@tt, 17 April 01) in Mailbox. Go to http://download.cnet.com and type "start caption editor" in the search-box. You'll get a freeware of 1.51MB called startcap.zip with which you can change the Start Menu caption.
Abhilash Scariya
via e-mail

A: Thanks for the tip.

Q:I have OE, and i would like to use it for my Rediffmail and Yahoo IDs. Can you please tell the incoming and outgoing server for these two. I have set up pop.mail.yahoo.com and smtp.mail.yahoo.com for Yahoo. But this is unable to send or receive mails from OE. Please suggest.
Shobha Khilani
via e-mail

A: Rediffmail is a Web-based email service. You can't POP your email with it yet. Your Yahoo server settings are OK. However, you need to enable Yahoo! Delivers (special offers)before you can POP mail remotely. You can also get more information at http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/pop/.

Q: My computer has been affected by different viruses. I am fed up of the computer and Internet. I need your help. Please suggest any gadget through which i can send
and receive email and also surf the net. With its price and where I can buy a copy
Debashish Halder
via e-mail

A: You shouldn't give up so easily. Get a good antivirus program and keep it regularly updated. Read my previous Viruswatch columns for information on resolving viruses. The only possible alternative is using a cell phone to access your email; browsing is limited. But this can be prohibitively expensive. If you must, use a cyber cafe and a web-based email account.

Q: My PIII/450 has a Yamaha YMF724 PCI sound card with Yamaha DX-XG player. I have installed Jet Audio 4.7 and configured it as default CD player. Whenever I try to play an audio CD, the progress bar moves but no sound comes through the speakers. The same thing happens when using the Yamaha DX-XG. But CDs played through Media Player 7 and Real JukeBox have good sound. I also have Real Player for streaming audio and video. The same problem is there with friends who have Real Player 7 and Jet Audio 4.7. But those with Real Player 8 have no problem. I tried the Win 98 Help Trouble Shooter in vain. Can you tell me where the problem lies?
Asit Sinha
via e-mail

A: You've come close to a possible solution. Its possible that Real Player 7 is conflicting with another program. Or is using a shared or stream-encoded codec. Media Player and Real JukeBox are pretty much self-contained. The Win98 Help Trouble Shooter (like all of its ilk) is quite useless. Try www.windowstroubles.com instead.

Q: My PC hangs whenever I restart but there is no problem when I shutdown. It worked in the safe mode. please make me correct the problem. I don't have a Internet connection and my Internet Explorer does not open. Whenever I click it, I get the MSN Setup wizard. But IE opens in the computers of my friends without any connection. Please help.

I have a possible solution to Subhankar Nag's problem (it@tt, 23 Jan 01) with recording an audio CD in Music match Jukebox. I had the same problem. It was solved when I inserted the audio CD after clicking the record button. Sorry that this suggestion is late.
Kiran Kumar Jha
via e-mail

A: When booting up, press F8 to get the boot menu. Select Safe Mode and once Windows loads, remove all items in the Startup folder. Restart Windows and press F8 again. This time use the Step-by-Step option to monitor what is causing the lockup. If there are no problems, shutdown Windows and restart again. But this time let it boot naturally. Its possible that a startup item was causing a freeze. If you continue to have a problem, Windows may be corrupted. You evidently haven't configured IE. Just run the setup Wizard once. And thank you for the solution, we hope it works.

Q: I am unable to open any Web site. Whenever I try IE shows an error "IE could not open the search page" and status bar shows "downloading from site: about blank." My OE5 also is unable to download any mail. The problems occurred when instead of uninstalling Netsonic I deleted it from the command line. On restarting Windows shows "Missing shortcut for the program Webmain.exe." I have re-installed Win 98 and IE5 (from by VSNL) but the problem remains the same. Please help me.
Nikhil Chakraborty
via e-mail

A: Oooh! That WAS a mistake. Check your Internet connections settings from Tools|Internet Options|Connection|LAN Settings. If the "use a proxy server" check box is enabled disable it. Similarly in OE, check the remote host settings. These too probably point to your missing Netsonic proxy. Once everything is working, consider re-installing Netsonic and then properly uninstalling it.

Q: I have recently upgraded to a PIII 500 with Windows 98 and Office 2000. However, I have not changed my DMP: a Fujitsu DL700 as it serves my purpose. But whenever I print from Word, I get an "Illegal operation." Many clicks later the printing is complete but the computer hangs. On deleting the Printer driver, it works fine. I have found that this printer is only compatible with Windows 3.1 and 95 and does not support later versions. Will loading Windows 3.1 and upgrading it help?
Pratap Thaker
via e-mail

A: Your problems are indeed caused by the wrong driver. Have you tried using the Fujitsu DL900 driver? Installing Windows 3.1 won't resolve your problem. Windows 98 will not upgrade from it.

Q: I find your solutions very useful. When I try to open Internet Explorer a message "Please check your Content Advisor settings for missing information.." appears. When I press OK the IE window appears but web sites don't. Please help me.
Suraj Pandey
via e-mail

A: See my response to a similar problem (it@tt, 23 Jan 01 or www.careermosaicindia.com/itatt).

Q: I recently upgraded from Win95 to Win98SE. I had Real Player configured as my default MP3 player. Now with Win98SE I can't play MP3 songs with Real Player. Every time I have to restart my PC. But I can still play streaming video from the Internet without any problem.
Ananda Bhattacharya
via e-mail

A: Windows 98 SE needs a starting RAM of 64 MB. The operating systems uses a lot more resources than previous versions. Consider changing your MP3 player to Windows Media Player 7. Or to a free player like WinAMP Lite on Sonique.

Q: I have a PIII with 64 MB Ram and free disk space of 15 GB. I want to load songs from my friend's CD. Will this consume much memory? Is it safe to play songs loaded in hard disk on a long term basis? What are the software requirements? Where can I download free software. How do I download them?
Amit Baid
via e-mail

A: So many questions. I suggest you read back issues of it@tt online, especially Mailbox for answers. There should be no problems. But you need to convert the audio CD format to MP3 or WMA to save space. A 5 minute .WAV song will consume at least 25 MB of disk space. In comparison an MP3 or WMA will be no more than 2 MB! You will need a ripper like Audiograbber or Real JukeBox and a player like WinAMP. Your 64 MB of RAM may be a bottleneck.

Q: I'm a regular reader of IT@TT. I use to read Mailbox regularly but found that some readers send questions which have answered by you previously. Please ask them to find the answer in the previous issues.

I use Outlook Express as my mail client. I have three mail accounts from Netkracker, Tring Tring and Net4India. When I try to send mail from my Tring Tring using the same ISP or from Netkracker using the Netkracker ISP it works fine. But when I try to send mail from my Tring Tring account when connected with Netkracker I get an error "The message could not be sent...prohibited by administrator', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 550, Error Number: 0x800CCC79." Please help me to solve the problem as early as possible.
Indrajit Datta
via e-mail

A: If you ask me there are many who send a query just for getting their names in print. The mail problem you are facing is a result of the turf battles between private ISPs. Several ISPs only let you send email using their service. You can't use a rival ISP; including VSNL! Right now there's nothing except user beware. It's irritating, but there it is. I suggest you also bring the matter to the notice of both ISPs and consider taking them to a consumer court.

Q: Your mailbox section is very informative. I learn a lot every week. I have a Pentium/266 with 64 MB RAM and Win 98SE. I can view VCDs with Windows Media Player 6. I did download Version 7 and that was a disaster as nothing worked properly untill I uninstalled it! I have a large collection of movies and other stuff on VHS video cassette, as well as some personal recordings done by camcorder on V8 tapes. Could I see those in my PC? Could I also transfer them onto writable CDs using my CD-RW drive? What do I need
Avirup K Sen

A: It's not Windows Media 7 that is the problem; but the way Win98SE uses system resources. 64 MB is the min RAM required. 128 MB certainly improves things. To convert your existing tapes to VCD, you need a frame grabber. This hardware+software solution costs between Rs 30,000 to Rs 1 lakh. And you also will need to add RAM (128 MB) plus invest in a SCSI card and drive to grab the video. You could consider outsourcing the work to a studio. Its more cost effective.

Answers by G Menon
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