Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader Lisa C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have upgraded my Windows ME to XP and I can not longer use my Adaptec Easy CD Creator ... How can I get this program to work on this Windows edition? " My response: The short answer is that ... Microsoft did not include something called an ASPI layer for Windows 2000 and XP, which is a required sub-program for many CD burning applications, such as Easy CD Creator. The solution is to download and install an ASPI layer so that your CD drive is recognized and usable under Easy CD Creator. Luckily, I managed to find a program called ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Neal I. writes: " Hi Dennis! I have been reading most of your newsletters since below the 100,000-user subscription level and I find your articles to be very helpful. I may have missed a relevant article, but here is a problem to ... chew on: I have Windows XP Pro with all the Service Packs and updates, and an Epson cx5200 all-in-one printer ... I [have plenty of music that I have downloaded off the 'net and find that Media Player 9 is able to present me with a list of song tracks when I'm sitting in front of the computer, however], I wish to study the play list from the ... (view more)

Betty R. writes: " I have certainly enjoyed the newsletter as it contains very important information that I cannot find anywhere else. Thanks for that, and I have downloaded your eBook to lean how to install a hard drive. ... http://www.infopackets.com/how+to+install+a+hard+drive.htm My problem is that I am trying to set up my computer to act as as game server. To do this, I need to give other users my IP (Internet Protocol) address. Normally this would be an easy task, but my computer is sharing an Internet connection via a router. I have several computer friends in other states with whom I ... (view more)

Die-hard Infopackets Reader Colette C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your newsletter! It's very informative and gives us 'technologically challenged' folk a chance to understand what the heck is going on in the world of computers. Speaking of 'What ... the heck is going on?'... Occasionally, an error message appears in Internet Explorer when I try to print out something. It reads: 'Internet Explorer Script Error: An error has occurred in the script on this page. Error: Access is denied. Line: 93 Char: 1, Error: Access denied: 0, URL: res://C:\WINDOWS \ SYSTEM \ SHDOCLC.DLL / preview.dlg. Do ... (view more)

Malcolm C. from Sydney, Australia writes: " Hi Dennis! First of all, thanks for the great Newsletter. It is very helpful and informative. And, now for my problem: I was reading an article in Microsoft Knowledge Base about 'How To Share the same ... email Store Folder among multiple Windows XP users [for a family PC, for example]' ( KB 317031 ) and thought that might be a good idea. Unfortunately, it seems somewhere I have made an error. I have 4 email accounts under my Windows login; now, all but 1 has lost all the emails and folders. The folders have been replaced with the standard Inbox, ... (view more)

Damyanti L. from the United Kingdom writes: " When I go on the Internet, there are some nasty ads popping up on my computer. I also have children using this system. Can you advise me on how I can stop these extremely rude pictures from popping up? ... Many thanks. " My Response: First of all, let me say that there are 3 types of "PopUp" advertisements that exist: Web PopUps, Spyware PopUps, and Messenger PopUps. Web PopUps only occur when the browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc) is loaded. In contrast, Spyware PopUps can appear even if you aren't connected to the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Peg M. asks: " Dear Dennis, Yesterday, I read your article on RoboForm. I use the Mozilla Firebird browser and was wondering: how can I install RoboForm installed on Firebird instead of Internet Explorer (which is used by ... default)? " My Response: For those of you who are just tuning in: RoboForm is a free web Browser 'plug-in' replacement for Internet Explorer's AutoComplete form feature. Some features of the free version include: Save / auto fill password info from login form, Automatic login to online accounts, Fill long online forms from Identities, and more. ... (view more)

Is your computer safe from the dangers of file-sharing? I know mine isn't. Just this past Monday, I received a message stating that the file I received (through Kazaa) was infected with malicious code that could harm my computer. I was lucky that my ... anti-virus program caught the malevolent program from infecting my machine, otherwise I would have launched the file completely blind that my actions may have corrupted my entire hard drive. Indeed, a scary thought. At this point, I paused for a moment and thought to myself, "Could there be other nasty software lurking on my computer that may ... (view more)

Recall -- Last week, I asked Infopackets Readers to send me their top picks for a freeware DVD player. Below are some of the responses I received (in no particular order). Jeff 'MrPianist' recommended DSPlayer: " DSPlayer is a free skinable DVD ... Player, which plays other multimedia formats as well. 100% no Spyware! Full compatibility with win 2000/XP; Supported formats avi, mpeg, mov, DVD, mp3, mid, wav, cda (AudioCD) ... requires Windows 9x/Me/2000/XP, DirectX 8 or higher. " http://www.freewarenetwork.com/description/dsplayer.html Keith, a retired Techie says: " Cinemaster DVD ... (view more)

Donna H. writes: " I have windows 2000 / NT. My administrative password timed out or somehow expired, and now I can't use any of the Administration computer management. How can I reset my Admin password? Thank you for reading this and any help is ... appreciated. " My response: I visited win2000mag.net and found instructions on how to use a program called Ntpasswd. The instructions given below are essentially verbatim, but have been changed slightly to "newbie speak" so it is easier to follow. http://www.win2000mag.net You can use Peter Nordahl's Ntpasswd tool to reset the ... (view more)