Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader Judy R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am looking for a laptop that would support an online business. I have a decent computer at home, but would like to have a separate computer for the business. I was thinking of a laptop; are there ... any you would recommend? I would need some ability to back-up. We have DSL High Speed Internet at home and would like to go wireless. We're a little lost on how to do that, though we have the parts. PS: I enjoy your newsletter -- some of it is way over my head, but I am getting some good basic information. Keep up the good work. Thank you. ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Don R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I run some old DOS programs on my new XP PC and am running into memory problems. I have tried all the memory manager options I see, but they have no result. Any suggestions? " Side note: MS DOS is the ... predecessor operating system to Microsoft Windows. Unlike Windows, DOS operates from a command line. For example: to load a program, you would typically need to navigate to a program folder (by issuing DOS commands) and then execute a program by typing in its name. A sample MS DOS Window can be seen here . My response: I get asked this ( ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Joseph B. writes: " Dear Dennis, Is there a way in XP Home to remove access to programs from other users? For instance, I have Quicken that I use, but I do not want my 8 year old son to have access to the program. Can you give me ... any suggestions? " My response: As you may already be aware, user accounts can be assigned using WinXP (Control Panel -> Users). Noting this, some programs give you the option to specify that "All" or "Some" users have access to a program -- but only at the time of the install. If this option is not available, you ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Susan C. writes: " Dear Dennis, First I want to say that I love reading your newsletter because you always have very interesting topics. My question today is in regard to Outlook Express blocking access to my email attachments. As ... per your instruction, I have disabled the option in Tools -> Options -> Security tab -> 'do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus.' However, Outlook Express still blocks access to some of my files (.PDF, for example). I don't know what else I can do to get around this problem? Any help you can ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Peter S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I'd like to add my two pennyworth to your recent article on XoftSpy . I have recently tried out the software and so far have been pleased ... I [also] run Ad-Aware and Spybot regularly and I have ... SpywareBlaster running in the background on my machine, plus a firewall and AntiVirus software. I downloaded XoftSpy in an attempt to get rid of a persistent nasty worm (Dumaru-AM) which the other software failed to solve. I am pleased to say that XoftSpy worked well and picked up several other bugs ... This is not to say that the other programs ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Linda G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just read your article on the free Spyware scanning software, ' XoftSPy '. It reminded me of a similar experience I had with a program called PC Bug Doctor. The PC Bug Doctor web site promised to ... scan and repair 'every error on your Computer anytime you need it.' I admit, I was a bit skeptical, but figured it would be worth a shot. Boy was I wrong! Although the program reported over 200 errors on my computer, I had to register it in order to fix them ($40). Mind you, I would have gladly paid the registration fee if I knew what the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Diane D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently found a program called 'XoftSpy' while browsing the 'net. The web site offered a free download to check my PC, so I tried it. After it ran a check, it came up with 97 registry faults, and ... 10 file faults. Can you tell me if you have heard of this program, or even given it a try, and what the results were? I am considering purchasing the full program, but would like to know if there is anything similar that does the same job, and comparisons please. " My response: To be honest, I have never used or heard of "XoftSpy ... (view more)

Recall -- Last week I asked Infopackets Readers for a freeware color-coded Text Editor capable of editing certain file types (such as HTML documents with JavaScript embedded). Infopackets Reader Keith B. writes: " I use Notepad2. It's much better ... than the standard Windows Notepad, and I use it for editing pages on my own web site. From the web site: 'The original Notepad shipped with Windows is probably the handiest program of all times, small, fast, without frills! Notepad2 tries to follow this principle, it's a small, fast and free text editor with syntax highlighting for HTML and ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Annie' writes: " Dear Dennis, I'd like to know how to copy and paste something into HTML but don't know how to do it. I am trying to save an animated 'Java' clock I saw on a web site into another HTML document, but I just can't ... seem to get it to go. Can you please help me? I don't really know a lot about computer languages. Thanks. " My response: It sounds like you're trying to copy and paste Java code through the browser; regrettably, it's not as simple as this, as Java is a transparent feature of the web browser. If you want to copy and paste Java that is ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Katie' asks: " Why is it that some sites ask that you type in your email address twice using a web form? What does typing in your email address two times have to do with anything? It's simple enough to cut and paste the email ... address into the second line, but a hassle. What do you think? " My response: A web site with a form to enter an email address twice is for the purpose of verifying that you've typed in the address correctly. For example: any web site with a subscription service (via email) would implement this type of verification scheme to limit the number ... (view more)