Call for help
Do you know of free UK-based internet call waiting software similar to Buzme.com, Callwave.com, Whoisit.com, etc?
J Owen Skinner
owen_skinner@4unet.co.uk
Jack Schofield replies: The UK has trailed when it comes to services that answer the phone while users are online, apart from BT's answering service (not free). In the absence of American services such as BuzMe, Callwave and Whoisit, we have OnLine Call Manager, which was launched late last year. OCM will let you play a message asking people to call back, divert the call to a mobile phone or fixed line, or record voicemail. If callers are also online using a "voice over IP" (internet protocol) system, you can even talk to them. But if you know of any alternative UK services, let me know.
Password problem
Previously, I could save the password of all my dial-up connections to the internet. Recently I had some problems and re-installed Windows. Now I can't save the password of any dial-up connection. Is there a place where you have to set Windows to allow you to save passwords? David J. Petersen
djp@netvigator.com
JS: This is such a common problem that I'm amazed it hasn't come up before. Unfortunately the solution may not be simple, as there are at least 10 possible solutions such as re-installing dial-up networking, renaming or deleting password (.pwl) files, and simply making another connection for the service (My Computer|Dial-Up Networking|Make New Connection).
Changing the Windows Password file, using Start|Settings|Control Panel, may help but probably will not. However, you can try. Double-click the Passwords icon, select User Profiles, and click the button that says Users can customise their preferences. Restart Windows as requested and when asked for a password, leave that field blank but click OK.
Microsoft's online Knowledge Base provides several more alternative solutions at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q148/9/25.asp.
Other KB articles that may be useful include Q135197 (Damaged Password List File Does Not Save Passwords) and Q137361 (Save Password Check Box Is Unavailable). You can get to these from http://support.microsoft.com.
Incidentally, Microsoft now offers a friendly 26 year old "software agent" (not a real person) and "student of life" called Maxwell to help users with queries. Unlike me, he is dumber than he looks. Ask Maxwell is at http://support.microsoft.com/support.
Mail trigger
My inquiry concerns the automatic triggering of a web connection that comes with email from Amazon.com and others. Even if I am trying to delete it before it can act, it beats me to the punch and starts an internet connection. As my computer dials 10 times, I have to stop it 10 times. At least with double-glazing salesmen, we can just put the phone down. Charlie Gillett
cgillett@oval.demon.co.uk
JS: The simple solution is to start Internet Explorer, select Tools and then Internet Options. This will pop up a tabbed dialogue box. Choose the Connections tab and click the radio button to select: Never dial a connection. Finally, click OK to close the dialogue box. The drawback is that when you do want to go online you will have to start the connection manually, eg by double-clicking an icon on the Windows desktop and clicking Connect.
If you don't have an icon to click, create one by going to the DUN (Dial-Up Networking) Folder - as above - and attempting to drag the icon for your connection (eg Demon Internet) on to the desktop. Windows will create one for you.
Driver, he said
We have a whole raft of Microsoft products running under Windows 98 and they all run perfectly except Publisher 2000 which crashes frequently.
There is a two in three chance of getting an "illegal operation" message. Under "details" it says "general protection fault in module 3DFX16V3.DRV at 0008:00000258". Is there a cure?
Walter King
walter@dart-sensors.com
JS: The error message is telling you there is a problem with the 3DFX video card driver software. Try installing a new driver downloaded from www.3dfx.com or, if that doesn't work, try using a Microsoft graphics driver from your Windows CD.
Icon do it
When shutting down my PC with Windows 95 I must have touched something that made all my file, inbox, Recycle bin and short cut icons go into what looks like a negative with very little colour.
The Start menu icons have a white square behind them with broken images. They all work still but because of the smudged effect are sometimes difficult to pick out, although the lettering is still readable. Can you help?
Mike Pearson
Mpearson@surfree.co.uk
JS: This is a known problem, though not a common one. The icons are stored in a cache file called ShellIconCache, which saves getting them from individual programs each time they're needed.
Your cache may be damaged. If you delete it, Windows will create a new one automatically.
ShellIconCache is a hidden file in the Windows folder. To see it, go the View menu in Windows Explorer, select Options, and then click Show All Files and OK. Finally, reboot your PC.
Microsoft recommends restarting Windows 95 or 98 in Safe mode before deleting ShellIconCache.
If that doesn't solve the problem on its own, there's the riskier approach of changing the Registry. After taking a back-up copy of the Registry (always a good idea), go to the Start menu and select Run. Type in regedit and press enter.
Go down the tree to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\ explorer and add "Max Cached Icons"= "2048"
Then restart your computer.
However, don't mess with the Registry if you're not sure what you're doing.
