IT@TT - Online

A request: Please avoid sending us email with attachments for security reasons. We are still receiving a deluge of email and letters so do be patient. We will respond one day. Do note that email in all capitals or without the sender's name will not be responded to on a priority basis. Also, when reporting a problem do ensure that you send your system configuration and as much details about any self-attempts to resolve the problem.

Q: I am very fond of it@tt, particularly Mailbox which I find very interesting. I have experienced some Windows 98 related problems that were solved after following the instructions you gave in a Mailbox answer. Thank you.

Now my problem is that I have created four e-mail accounts in Outlook Express of which two are for official and two personal use. I have also created two separate folders in Inbox but could not separate/direct the incoming mails into them. I have to do this manually. Is there a way to automatically direct incoming mail in its respective folder.
Satyajit Bose
via e-mail

A: Thank you for the kind words. My credo is to help others, especially those who help themselves :) In OE, use Tools|Message Rules|Mail to re-direct incoming email. As long as the email is from a specific account there will be no problems.

Q: I have a Caltiger Internet account and use Outlook Express to send and receive e-mail. I also have an e-mail account in 123india.com, where I also have a number of e-mails. I want to download these onto my hard disk. Please help.
Pawlok Dass
via e-mail

A: I am a regular reader of Mailbox and find it very helpful. I have a PIII with 128 MB with both Win98 and Win2k. During Startup, a screen used to appear giving me the option of choosing my operating system. Recently the screen has disappeared and I cannot enter Win2k. How do I rectify it? Is it possible to configure Outlook Express to download and send email from web-based mail accounts like Yahoo, 123india.com etc.
Rudraprasad Sengupta

How did you make boot option vanish? There must have been an event. Still, as a Win2K user, I wonder why you have both Win98 and Win2k. In effect, you need to install every software twice over for it to work on both OSes. If you still have your Win2K disk, boot from the CD and choose the Repair option. To configure Yahoo email from OE, use pop.mail.yahoo.com for POP3 (receive) and smtp.mail.yahoo.com for SMTP (send). 123india supports web-based mail access only.

Q: I am an avid reader of it@tt and find the solutions provided by you very useful. I am learning Java so can you tell me what software I need to buy to load javac, javax, Java swing, etc and how to install it.
Samayita Dutta
via e-mail

A: A useful answer would be too long for this column. I recommend that you visit java.sun.com for the complete details.

Q: Several times I get an error about kernel 32. Then the system stops responding. What is the problem actually? A month ago, I faced a similar problem and my vendor ran the rescue disc. Since then, it was OK.
Dr Nilanjan Dastidar
via e-mail

A: There's your answer. You need the rescue disk again. But Kernel32 errors are caused by bad RAM or hardware or too much load on the OS. From the Win setup files, install the System Resource Meter. This is a good early-warning when things are about to go very wrong.

Q: I access the Internet with VSNL. I use Outlook Express 5 for e-mail editor. I want to receive mail from Hotmail. How do I do so.
Nishit Mandal
via e-mail

A: OE has a wizard for this. Try Tools|Accounts|New|Mail and follow the prompts. When asked for your email ID, give the Hotmail one.

Q: I have a PIII with 128 MB RAM. For the past few days whenever I start up my PC I get an error that DLL MFC42.DLL not found. I am also receiving ICQ errors. I have located a file MFC42.DLL under c:\windows\system but am unsure of what to do next. This problem seems to have appeared after I had installed some games. How do I fix the problem.
Subhra Bishnu
via e-mail

A: Aiyo! Your best bet is to use Programs|Accessories|System Tools|System Information. In this select Tools|System File Checker. Use the second option to extract a file (MFC42.DLL). You may need to reinstall ICQ.

Q: I want to know if there is any freeware which allows me to make my own screen saver using different images. I also wanted to register a domain name for myself. What procedure should I follow for that.
Kumar Ritwik
via e-mail

A: Little freeware but lots of shareware. Try
http://www.windows-shareware.com/shareware/screensavers_editors.html.
To register a domain name, try register.com. You will need a global credit card.

Q: I have a Pentium MMX with 64 MB RAM running Win98, Win2k and Linux. I use Caltiger to browse the Internet. When I connect sometimes IE opens smoothly but it often gives "This program performed an illegal operation.". I reinstalled Win98 and then tried with IE 5.5 but there is no change. Why am I getting this error. I am told it is a RAM problem.
Jayanta Sarkar
via e-mail

A: You haven't mentioned in which Win OS you get the error. And your CPU too is somewhat outdated. The min. specs for Win 2K are P-II with 128 MB RAM. Consider upgrading the processor as well as the RAM.

Q: Thanks for a superb supplement like it@tt. Once while I was creating a table in Word 97, the power suddenly went off. Now whenever I open the application, every time that incomplete table appears. Please give me a solution.
Subhakar Rudra
via e-mail

A: I think you managed to accidentally insert the table into Word's NORMAL.DOT (default) template. Open this file for editing, and see if you can chop that table to bits. If not, then delete NORMAL.DOT and save a new file (with no furniture) as the default template.

Q: In one edition of it@tt you had mentioned Internet phones. I want to know about dailpad and how to make calls. Can I make do with the speakers or do I need something else.
Manoj Singh
via e-mail

A: Internet telephony is still banned in India and using these service can get your ISP connection terminated. In any case to chat you need speakers, a microphone and a sound card that supports full-duplex sound.

Q: Thanks for such a good supplement. I want to buy a PC and would like a P-III/700,64 MB RAM, etc. I also want to know that what is a Celeron and what is the difference between it and a Pentium. As I want a PC for accounting, Internet and some multimedia applications, is a Celeron sufficient or should I choose a Pentium? Please also suggest the best configuration?
Milan Vasa
via e-mail

Q: I want to buy a good PC. But there are branded PCs available and their prices are between heaven and hell difference. I am confused about which one to choose. Please help
Victor Adak
via e-mail

A: There is a solution available online. Visit www.netkracker.com/shoppc to configure your dream machine. You can also get Citibank financing.

Celerons belong to a family of lo-cost Intel Pentium II type chips introduced in mid-1998. They have 128KB of L2 cache that runs at the full speed of the CPU (somewhat akin to the hi-end Xeon chips with 2MB of L2). Pentium III-based Celerons use Coppermine technology introduced in 2000 and a significantly faster. The Pentium III includes 70 additional instructions, known as SSE (Single SIMD Extensions) optimized for multimedia performance. There is a price difference of about Rs 3000-5000 between Celeron and P-III chips of the same speed.

Q: I have a PIII, 128 MB RAM and Win98SE as well as Win2K Pro. Recently I updated my Norton Antivirus 2000 from the Symantec site. On running a complete scan, it detected the js.seeker virus attached to a file "removeit.hta" in the win2000 root directory. I always use Win98 for browsing. I deleted the infected file and ran the scan again which showed my system as clean. I would like to know more about this particular virus and other preventive steps.
Nitish Jain
via e-mail

A: The prevention is easy; read the last para of this week's Viruswatch. And consider using Win 2K to surf, its more impervious to viral threats. You can get the full details about your infection at : http://www.sarc.com/avcenter/venc/data/js.seeker.html.

Q: My vendor have given me Win2k but I can't use JDK1.3 with it as there is no DOS prompt. Please help
Tamal Saha
via e-mail

A: There is a DOS prompt. Type "cmd" (without the quotes) in the Start|Run dialog box.

Q: Whenever I insert an audio CD in the CD-ROM drive my Media Player displays a warning "unable to read digitally so the songs will be played in Analog. The CD-ROM can read data CD-ROMs. I am also unable to record songs properly from CD. It plays the whole song while recording and the quality is poor. I also want to know is there any problem if I Defrag my computer too often.
Mahitosh Kumar
via e-mail

A: I too have had this problem on Win 98 SE. It seems to be a mix of processor limitations mixed with Windows internals. I don't have an immediate solution (except to upgrade to Win2K Pro which is a disaster with a Celeron). Perhaps some of our readers would like to help? There is no problem in defragmenting your hard drive one a month.

Q: Thanks for your suggestions on mail previewed in OE. Now there are many emails that I would not like to delete but I don't want to keep them on the hard disk. How can I backup to floppy? I would also like to know that how to save Web Pages in IE which is not displaying its menus. what is FAT83 and how does it work.
Nikhil Agrawala
via e-mail

A: Very simple, open the email and save it as a .TXT or .HTML file to the floppy disk. Then delete the original. Can you see the basic toolbar in IE. If so you browser may have been maximised. Press F11 to restore it. If this doesn't work, you will need to reinstall. We have not heard of FAT83. Do email us where you read about it.

Q: Could you please tell me which is the best way to preserve the computer from viruses. And what are the symptoms for it.
Md. Tarique Nisar
via e-mail

A: The best way to avoid viruses is not to us a computer. Actually, with a good anti-virus program that is regularly updated you should remain trouble-free. The symptoms depend on the whim of the writer/developer, but typically include general slow-downs and data corruption.

Q: Please let me know where I can get free downloads of Rabindra sangeet in MP3 format.
Sujay Biswas
via e-mail

A: There are several sites. We recommend using the keywords "rabindra sangeet MP3" on Google.com

Q: This is in reference to Mailbox of 9 January 2001. Saurav Chakraborty seems to have used in his AUTOEXEC.BAT "c:\jdk1.2.1\bin" which is absolutely wrong. He should instead use "c:\jdk12~1.1\bin". Due to this wrong entry, Autoexec.bat has probably got corrupted and so the Windows path now stands undefined. This is why he's unable to start Windows and ends up at DOS prompt. To solve this, he should type "win" at the command prompt to start the GUI and edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT from within Windows as I feel he'll not be able to access Autoexec.bat from the command prompt.
Bineet Gupta
via e-mail

A: You may be right on the JDK path. But are totally wrong about Autoexec.bat. This is a ASCII file that executes commands one after the other and there is nothing to be corrupted. To modify the file, press F8 at boot up until the Boot Menu appears and choose Command Prompt. Make the modifications to the batch file and restart the PC with Ctrl+Alt+Del.

G Menon
[email protected]

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