Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader Polly B. writes: " Dear Dennis, I've downloaded and successfully installed Service Pack 2 onto my computer. The only complaint I have so far is that Outlook Express is so security tight, that a lot of the email messages I have put ... aside (with file attachments) now cannot be opened. I went in and took off the Outlook Express Security 'do not allow me to open potentially dangerous attachments' option, and now everything is OK. I felt safe in choosing to disable this 'security features' because I use Norton Security which blocks potentially malicious email attachments. My ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Suzie B. writes: " Dear Dennis, I've been keeping up with the buzz in your newsletter about Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). Although I haven't downloaded your SP2 Fail-Safe Install Guide , I would like to make a comment on my ... nightmare-ish experience with Service Pack 2. When I heard about the extensive features and benefits of Service Pack 2, I thought it sounded great -- and so decided to install it onto my machine. And that's when my nightmare began. The first time I tried to install Service Pack 2, it took a few hours to complete the install. When it was all said ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Glenda 'LadyInRed' writes: " Dear Dennis, Since I am not that tech-savvy when it comes to making changes on a computer system, I have decided to ask this question. I hope that you can give me an answer to it, then I can stop ... trying to figure it out on my own. I have a son that is 27 years old and he is very intelligent when it comes to the computer. He likes to get on my computer since I have a fast Internet connection (DSL), and downloads music using Kazaa. The problem is that every time that Kazaa is installed onto my computer it causes a lot of problems. I have ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Glenda 'LadyInRed' writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks for your response . Unfortunately I don't have Windows XP on my computer (I'm still using Windows 98). So, my question to you now is: other than security, what is better about ... Windows XP? And if I can't use Windows XP, would you recommend that I upgrade to Windows ME? " My response: I can't provide you with an exhaustive / comparative list of differences between Windows 98 and XP, but there are a number of obvious differences that I can highlight: With respect to Windows 98: an announcement was made in December 2003 ... (view more)

Roughly two weeks ago, I wrote an article that featured a nifty utility that Password Protects Files and Folders. The program is particularly useful if you share your computer with others and don't want them accessing sensitive data. Recall -- " ... ... People are going to be curious and want to look at your files, and there's not much you can do (as far as protection) with the current Windows security if you haven't logged out. Folder Password Expert does exactly what the title implies. It's as easy as choosing a folder to protect and creating a password! ... As opposed to other software, ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Peter D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I'm running Windows 2000 Professional on a machine that uses a Pentium 3 processor. After around 1 hour online, a RAM defrag utility I use reports that most of my RAM has been lost and I need to ... defrag. Can you tell me why I lose most of my RAM, and why it's necessary to defrag constantly? PS: your newsletter is great. " My response: RAM is just that -- Random Access Memory -- which means that it will get fragmented *very* quickly as computing information is randomly written, read, and deleted from memory. It is true: RAM gets ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Donna E. writes: " Dear Dennis, My subscription to Norton AntiVirus is about to expire and I am thinking about switching to a different software company for my virus protection. I have done some reading on the Internet, but I am ... still not sure of which products are the best. I have Windows XP Professional on my computer and use DSL for my Internet connection. PS: Thanks for all of your wonderful advice in the newsletter! " My response: I personally use Symantec Norton AntiVirus on my system, largely because Symantec has an excellent reputation for quickly ... (view more)

Now that my XP Service Pack 2 Fail-Safe Installation Guide has been completed, I've started working on a few new projects in addition to revamping the layout of our web site (an enormous endeavor that began approximately 5 months ago). One of the ... new projects I started last week is an affiliate-tracking system that allows Infopackets Readers to resell our supplemental eBook and video tutorial guides. For example: if you refer someone to our web site and they buy a supplemental tutorial (such as the Service Pack 2 Fail-safe Guide), you can generate 30% on each sale. At the introductory price ... (view more)

I have finally finished my latest eBook, entitled, "Windows XP Service Pack 2 Install Guide: A fail-safe guide for new and intermediate computer users." Reminder: What is Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)? Service Pack 2 is Microsoft's latest -- major ... -- update to Windows XP. It's not just a collection of security patches; it is also a significant upgrade to the operating system itself and contains elements which cannot be obtained as separate downloads via the Windows Update web site. The Buzz surrounding the Release of XP Service Pack 2: Do or Don't? Service Pack 2 (SP2) began ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Katia E. writes: " Hi Dennis! I need your help in solving a little dilemma. I created a simple Excel spreadsheet to calculate the employee work hours from a time card. The problem is that I just cannot find a formula that will add ... the total hours worked everyday, in order to get a total of hours worked for the week. For example, the time card contains the following information: SAT --, SUN --, MON 8:31am, TUE 8:33am, WED 8:43am, THU 8:12am, FRI 9:00am. Any help you can give me to leave this frustration behind is greatly appreciated! " My response: This is actually ... (view more)