Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader 'Sue' writes: " Dear Dennis, Sometimes I receive an email attachment from a friend, and I can't open it. For example: I recently tried to open a PowerPoint file and received an error message stating, 'This file does not have a ... program associated with it. Create an association in the Folder Options in Control Panel.' How do I go about doing that? I installed PowerPoint, hoping I would be able to view it that way, but was unsuccessful. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. " My response: If the attachment was indeed a PowerPoint file and you're absolutely ... (view more)

Recall -- Yesterday, Infopackets Reader 'Suzanne' asked if I knew of a freeware program that could record / export chat logs for AIM (AOL Instant Messenger): " Do you know of any way to save AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) chat history without copying ... text into another program like word? I personally don't like AIM all that much, but a lot of my friends use it. Every other chat program that I currently use (ICQ, MSN, etc.) have the 'save history' feature, but AIM apparently does not. " Since I don't use AIM, I asked Infopackets Readers for help. By far, the best response was sent in by Kathy S., ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Suzanne' writes: " Dear Dennis, Your newsletter is still the best one out there! I'm on your website so much that my boss mentioned it to me the other day. ;-) She told me that I'm not not allowed to visit your site anymore ... during business hours unless I'm on lunch. With that aside, I have a question. Do you know of any way to save AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) chat history without copying text into another program like word? I personally don't like AIM all that much, but a lot of my friends use it. Every other chat program that I currently use (ICQ, MSN, etc.) have a 'save ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Barry H. writes: " Dear Dennis, My camera will not download photos using Microsoft wizard or several photo suits. Oddly enough, the camera works great with other computers. My computer sees the camera as a mass storage device in ... Device Manager, but when I try to download or slideshow my photos, the camera locks up; the camera won't switch off and I have to remove the power source to get it to turn off. Oftentimes when I try to view a slideshow, I only get a partial download and the camera locks up. Can you help? " My response: It's quite possible that you either: a) your ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Richard M. writes: " Dear Dennis, My hard drive has been making strange noises for a time, and today, it finally failed. The drive will boot up only to a certain point and then stop altogether; I cannot access my desktop or ... anything else. I ran a Windows 98 startup floppy and managed to do a scandisk, but when it scans the hard drive for surface errors, it stops at 21% and the noise from hard drive starts up again; it won't allow any further scanning. I tried using a program designed to fix hard drive's called 'PC Beginner' and it failed as well. I was wondering if there ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Glen H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am a bit concerned about the kind of marketing engaged in by some of the software developers that you recommend -- PC Tools, for example. 'Get a free scan,' they say. And so you do, and they find ... 150 problems on your machine. Then they say, 'Buy our software and fix these problems.' I really think that this is deceptive marketing. If the company wants to give a free scan and clean, I would have no argument with that, but this sort of marketing 'come on' leads one to think that the first scan was a sham -- and it may very well have been. The ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ken H. writes: " Dear Dennis, In the device manager, all of my DVD and CD-ROM devices won't work. Device Manager states that 'a driver for this device was not required and has been disabled (Code 32)'. Question: how can I get ... these devices to work again? I have uninstalled them and restarted the computer to let it find new drivers but that didn't work. I have scanned my PC for viruses and am clean. I have also researched this topic in Google and found a post which states that this error message can appear if you have Roxio Easy CD Creator (which I do). The post suggested a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ken H. writes: " Dear Dennis, In the device manager, all of my DVD and CD-ROM devices won't work. Device Manager states that 'a driver for this device was not required and has been disabled (Code 32)'. Question: how can I get ... these devices to work again? I have uninstalled them and restarted the computer to let it find new drivers but that didn't work. I have scanned my PC for viruses and am clean. I have also researched this topic in Google and found a post which states that this error message can appear if you have Roxio Easy CD Creator (which I do). The post suggested a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Simon W. writes: " Dear Dennis, I made the transition from Windows 95 to XP a few years ago, and since the upgrade, I've noticed a change in the way the 'Save As' dialogue box works with MS Word. For example: Under Windows 95, I ... would select a section of a document, copy it, and then paste it into the Save As dialogue box, and the document would save with that filename. However, now when I right-click over top of the Save As dialogue box under Windows XP, I don't have the option to 'Copy' or 'Paste' anymore (as I once did in Windows 95). Hence, I have to manually type in a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader "Jessie" writes: " Dear Dennis, I play Yahoo pinochle quite often. Someone recently told me that they could track my ISP from inside the game room; I assume this could be done by clicking on my name while I'm in the game room. ... What kind of program would they use so that I can block my ISP to it and/or track their ISP? Thank you. " My response: Just to clarify: ISP means Internet Service Provider. For example: Bell Sympatico provides DSL Internet access to its customers. On the other hand: IP means Internet Protocol. Additionally, an IP Address is a number (like a "mailing ... (view more)