Streaming madness
I went to the BBC Education website to study one of the languages there. However, I am unable to access the audio and/or video sections. The prompt to "save to disk" is successful and files appear as icons on the desktop. Clicking on Open File, however, brings up a warning message: "Access to the device, path, or file is denied". I am running Windows 98. How can I access programs of this type? June Rayner
June.Rayner@tesco.net
Jack Schofield replies: The files are in RealMedia format, so you must install the free RealMedia player, RealPlayer 8 Basic, from www.real.com/player/index.html?src=010207realhome_2 (they make it hard to find: look in the grey band just above the Gold Pass box).
Unfortunately, RealPlayer will only allow you to view these audiovisual files as they are "streamed" to your computer. You cannot save them and watch offline, which would be more convenient. If you "save" a file, it is only a pointer, not the file itself.
Streambox www.streambox.com solved this problem by launching a test version of a VCR program that let users capture RealMedia streams. However, RealNetworks responded with a lawsuit that led to it being withdrawn.
Streambox VCR was a bit tricky to use. You had to start the RealMedia file, then look on your hard drive for the "stub" for that stream, usually in the Temporary Internet Files folder. Opening the stub in (say) Notepad showed the origin of the stream. For example, the great Coca Cola Hilltop advert might have an address such as rtsp://rmserv1.loc.gov/ammem/ccmp/komt1600.rm
Copy that address to Streambox VCR and you could capture the streaming file and save it to disk, where it could be played at any time.
The legal and financial settlement between RealNetworks and Streambox, announced late last year, should enable Streambox to produce a version of VCR that respects copy protection in streamed RealMedia. As far as I know, it has yet to appear.
The internet being what it is, copies of Streambox VCR version 1.2 are being circulated underground in a "cracked" version. Obviously no one would want to use that. Equally, no one would want to use the non-cracked version either, as it registers your name and email address with Streambox's server.
In the meantime, you could always ask the BBC to provide files that can be downloaded (eg avi or mpg files), or use a different streaming format, such as Microsoft's ASF. A program called ASF Recorder allows streaming format (asf/asx) files to be captured using a similar approach to Streambox VCR.
Unreadable
I have collected on disk several pages of a book in PDF files, but the screen image is nearly unreadable. Using Acrobat Reader 2.1, I find that I can only print a few lines from a page. I cannot select the text by highlighting it in the usual way, so I cannot copy the text to Word. I cannot even print the screen using the Print Screen key and transferring the text to WordPad. I should value any comments you may have. Leslie Hall
LEdwinHall@care4free.net
JS: Adobe's PDF (Portable Document Format) works well for converting things like brochures into digital files. Sadly, it is awkward for word processed text - unless the document's owner wants to prevent you from changing it. This may also stop you doing things such as searching the text, filing it in a database, using a screen reader to voice it, or converting it to Braille.
You may make better progress if you upgrade to the latest Acrobat Reader 4, which is available online or on computer magazine cover discs. However, in this case, it sounds as though the files do not contain any text at all, just low-quality scanned images (bitmaps) of pages.
Adobe is well aware that PDF files may be inaccessible to people with less than perfect eyesight, so it provides ways to convert them to plain text or web format (HTML). You can do this by entering the web address of a PDF file, by mailing the file to Adobe's server, or by downloading Acrobat Access for Windows and converting it yourself (there is no Mac version). Either way, multicolumn texts may not convert properly, and texts in non-Roman alphabets will not convert at all. See http://access.adobe.com/tools.html for details.
Of course, if the PDF file is password protected, you cannot convert it without the password. A quicker and easier solution is simply to delete PDF files when they arrive.
Time slips
Is it possible to set a limit on the number of minutes/ hours that I can play Patience or Minesweeper, other than by using non-existent self-control? Julian Dunn
eisendora@compuserve.com
JS: After I answered this question (January 18), I heard about a new program that does what you want. It is called PC Time Cop, and it is distributed by Access Technology Group. You can download a beta test (trial) copy from www.parental-control-software.com or www.pctimecop.co.uk
Reader tips
Many thanks to all the readers who wrote in with additional information about various points. On the topic of keyboard shortcuts, Peter Rowland recommends the guide to Microsoft Word 97 shortcuts at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q157/9/35.asp, while Mike Hurden recommends downloading a free copy of WinKey. This lets you create your own "Windows + another" key combinations. Finally, several readers suggest eFax as a way of receiving faxes by email, instead of Yac. It also allows you to send faxes.
