Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader "Rayla Wolff44" writes: " Dear Dennis, Our computer monitor stopped working, and so we ended up borrowing our daughters old monitor and plugged it into our machine. The old monitor worked fine on her computer, however, when it's ... plugged into our machine, the icons appear to 'quiver' some times. What do you think is causing this problem? " My response: I have a number of suggestions off the top of my head. If the 'quivering icons' was a problem with your old monitor, then it is possible that the problem lies with your video card. If not, then try moving ... (view more)

It looks like I spoke too soon, shortly after announcing that my hardware nightmare was over. After racking my brains all last week, I have finally reached a conclusion. It appears that my computer's power supply was generating incorrect voltages, ... causing the system to hiccup and crash spontaneously. Unfortunately, my $400 video card was also devastated due to wavering surges and also needed to be replaced. Hopefully this will be the end of my hardware troubles, as the system appears to be working 100%. On to other news of importance. RE: Hotmail and Yahoo mail users A few weeks back, I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'WT Dusty2u' writes: " Dear Dennis, Kudos to you for providing a most useful resource, and especially for welcoming the expertise and suggestions of your readers. I really enjoy the freeware mentions in your newsletter and keep ... expecting to see you or your Readers mention the handy programs that are available at freshdevices.com. All are free for personal use and they are constantly updated. I am particularly fond of Fresh Diagnose and Fresh UI. You may want to check them out if you haven't already, and at least, pass on the word to your subscribers. " My response ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader William A. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just finished reading your recent article entitled, 'Download directly to CD using Windows XP?' ( August 26, 2004 ). I was curious about one thing: can you please tell me if it is possible to ... right click a file and have it 'Send To' my CD Burner? For example, if I right click over top of a document, there is a sub-header which reads 'Send To', with options (such as Internet Explorer, MS Paint, etc).Any help is appreciated! " My response: As long as you meet the following criteria, you can most definitely use the "SendTo ... (view more)

It's been a rough couple of weeks: it seems like every time I try to take a step forward, I end up taking 3 steps backward. After I got home from visiting Frank in Toronto, my main computer (the one that I use to write the newsletters) kept crashing ... with repeated Blue Screens of Death (BSOD). The BSOD's gave me some clue as to why my system was crashing, as the .DLL file responsible for the crash appeared to be related to my video card driver. Strange, I thought. I didn't upgrade my video card driver recently, but opted to do so as I hadn't upgraded my driver in over a year. Video card ... (view more)

This feature article is a step away from our normal discussions, as I am currently out of town visiting a friend in Toronto, Ontario for the next few days. RE: My encounter with the Backdoor.Agent.B Trojan I arrived at Frank's place in Toronto this ... past Sunday, and was unable to access the Internet until Wednesday. Unfortunately, Frank's computer was host to 35 virus-infected files, 7 Spyware variants, 4 Trojans, and 2 Internet worms (including MyDoom and SoBig) -- and he didn't even know it. I spent much of Monday and Tuesday "undoing" the damage caused by the malware. I have to ... (view more)

This feature article is a step away from our normal discussions, as I am currently out of town visiting a friend in Toronto, Ontario for the next few days. RE: My encounter with the Backdoor.Agent.B Trojan I arrived at Frank's place in Toronto this ... past Sunday, and was unable to access the Internet until Wednesday. Unfortunately, Frank's computer was host to 35 virus-infected files, 7 Spyware variants, 4 Trojans, and 2 Internet worms (including MyDoom and SoBig) -- and he didn't even know it. I spent much of Monday and Tuesday "undoing" the damage caused by the malware. I have to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Doug D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I get a lot out of your newsletter, and hope you can help me. I recently read that I can control the number of programs that 'autostart' themselves when I start my computer, thereby speeding up my ... boot time dramatically. I've used the built-in Microsoft utility for editing Startup programs, called MSConfig, but there are so many things listed, I don't know what is legitimate and what is not. Some programs that are listed in my Startup have been uninstalled and no longer exist on my computer -- but the names still appears on this startup ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Kim S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your site! It is one of the best I have ever seen to date. My question for you is this: I have Windows XP Home Edition and I would like to be able to save my the programs I download directly to ... CD recordable. The problem is, I don't see an option in the 'Save as' window to save to disc. Can you help? " My response: First, let me say that this is a tricky subject and requires quite a bit of technical knowledge. I will do my best to give you the 'break down' with the least amount of techie-talk; however, I strongly believe that ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sherrie R. writes: " Hi Dennis, I am currently using Windows 2000 and Outlook Express. Sometimes when I receive an email, I see a lightly outlined small box with a red X in the center where a picture should appear. The red X also ... appears (but less frequently) with some web sites I visit. Why does this happen? Many of my friends report this has happened to them too, but they don't know why either. I would appreciate any and all help/advice you can give. " My response: There are a number of reasons why a red X may appear on your screen, and is not necessarily a ... (view more)