New news
I use Yahoo as my ISP (internet service provider) because it's "free" and it donates some of the cost of the phone calls to Oxfam. My problem is that it does not provide a newsnet server for Usenet newsgroups. Can I set up a secondary ISP just for newsgroups? If so, how easy is it and can you recommend any particular ISPs, preferably also free, for this? Lindsay Jackson
l_c_jackson@yahoo.co.uk
It is a good idea to have at least two ISPs as the quality of service can vary. Details of how to set up extra ISPs were given in the previous Start Here. I don't know which free ISP offers the best Usenet service but Freeserve would be one place to start.
You could also look at some of the public news servers to see if they offer the groups you want. Try www.dmoz.org/Computers/Usenet/Public_News_Servers and on the Public News Server Web Ring (see www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/9594/public.htm).
At least one public server works in the UK: Taliesin. To set it up with Yahoo, run Internet Explorer, go to Tools|Accounts and select the News tab. Click the Add button, select News, then follow the wizard's prompts, entering taliesin.netcom.net.uk as the address.
There are also numerous paid-for Usenet services (eg www.usenet-access.com ) which are marketed on the huge number of newsgroups they carry, and the fact that they are not censored.
Downloads
When I try to download media files, I sometimes get the option to save in a folder, which is what I want, but at other times it is decided by the site I am downloading from. This means that I cannot find the file, or have to access the internet if I do click on it. How can I save files where I want? Colin Pierce
colin@zwemmer.com
You can usually save a file where you want by right-clicking on the link to the file and choosing Save Target As. This will let you decide what to call the file, and where to save it.
If you think a file has downloaded but you are not sure where, you can try to find it using the Find Files dialogue ( Start | Find | Files or Folders ). Type in *.mpg (or whatever the extension is) and set the date to find only things downloaded that day. (If you know the filename, of course, you can search for that.)
You may find the file in the Temporary Internet Files directory in Windows. Sort the directory by Size (by clicking the Size column label twice) and the biggest files will appear at the top. Then right-click on the file you want, hold down the mouse button, move it to your chosen directory, let go, and use the drop-down menu to copy it there.
There are several good reasons for downloading files with a download manager instead. A program such as GetRightwill resume a download if you lose the connection (assuming the server supports resuming), download several files at the same time, and even download different sections of the same file at the same. Since GetRight is doing the downloading, you can always save files where you want.
Other Windows managers include A HREF="http://www.reget.com" TARGET="_NEW">Reget, Go!Zilla and Mass Downloader.
Change menu
How can I edit the New menu presented by Explorer when I right-click either on the desktop or in an Explorer window? I have 28 options and I want to reduce these to about six. Grahame Stevens
geestevens@yahoo.co.uk
The New menu is very useful because it provides an easy way to create a new folder, a text file, or a file suitable for another registered program. However, if a lot of programs take advantage of this feature, the menu can become overlong.
The obvious way to shorten it is to use the RegEdit program to edit the system's Registry, which holds the instructions telling Windows how to behave. It involves finding the ShellNew key for each program you want to remove and changing it. But, editing the Registry is hazardous and nobody will do it if there is an easy alternative.
Fortunately there is. Microsoft offers a program called TweakUI for tweaking the user interface - it's one of the "power toys" - and I am reliably informed it will let you delete entries from the New menu. If you have Windows 95, you should be able to download a suitable version from Microsoft's web site (see www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/contents/wutoys/w95pwrtoysset/default.asp). If you have Win dows 98, it should be hidden on the CD-rom in the \tools\reskit\powertoy\folder. Just right-click on tweakui.inf and select Install to add it to your system.
If you change your mind, TweakUI also lets you put entries back. It's just a matter of ticking the boxes you want.
If you like tweaking Windows, there is also a much more powerful program called X-Setup, available free from Xteq at www.xteq.com/main.html.
Missing file
When I switch on my computer I get a message saying the system.ini file refers to a device file that no longer exists. I suspect this is a file from a game demo that may have been deleted rather than uninstalled. The instruction that comes up says the missing file is C:\KADEMO\VRSD.386 Is there any way I can cure this problem? Charles Lauder
c.w.lauder@talk21.com
Windows tries to load files it is told to load by the system.ini file and naturally complains if it can't find them. If you are sure you don't need the file - as with this leftover apparently from Star Trek: Klingon Academy Demo 1.0 - you can stop Windows from trying to load it by putting a semi-colon and a space (; ) at the start of the line that refers to the file. The simplest way to do this is to go to Start | Run and type sysedit to load the program that edits system files.
Click on the pane labelled C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI to bring it to the top, and insert ; before C:\KADEMO\VRSD.386
Finally, select File | Save to save the amended file, quit SysEdit, and restart your PC.
The reason for "commenting out" lines in system.ini rather than simply deleting them is to make it easier to restore lines if necessary.
OE problems
(1) When I open my Inbox in Outlook Express, how do I get it to go straight to the new messages, rather than the top (and oldest) one on the list?
(2) The address book used to appear on the left hand side when I opened Outlook Express under the folders options. I once closed it and it now no longer appears. How do I get it back?
David Steed
David.Steed@ukgateway.net
(1) I have no idea. Maybe a reader can help...
(2) Open Outlook Express, select View|Layout, and put a tick in the first box, which is labelled Contacts.
