Dennis Faas

Lavandran R. asks: " Dear Dennis, I've heard about combo drives which include DVD and CD-R/RW all-in-one. Does this mean I burn DVDs and CD-R/RW with the same unit? I'm confused! " My Response: There are DVD burners which can burn DVDs, but they are ... very expensive since it's new technology. I'm not aware of any DVD burner / CD-R/RW combo units on the market at this time. Unless it is specifically stated that the drive is a DVD-Burner, it probably is not. Most likely the drive you're looking at is a combo DVD reader and CD-R/RW burner. I've had a combo drive like this in the past and ... (view more)

Finally! After all the trouble and hassle with the last host, I think I've finally found a permanent home for the infopackets.com web site and virtual-host friends who are sharing this dedicated server. A brief, but very interesting (hellish) ... synopsis entails: Some time near the end of October 2002: It was decided that I needed to get another dedicated server to handle all the traffic that comes through the infopackets web server. October 30, 2002: After being reassured by a "knowledgeable" web-hosting sales representative that infopackets.com and its high demand for bandwidth could ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader David R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just finished reading your latest newsletter entitled, ' Required DLL not found error message .' On a related note, searching Google is usually one of my first steps in dealing with any unknown ... computer problem. Invariably, I'll find that someone else has had the same or a similar problem before me, and I avoid 're-inventing the wheel' by trying those solutions first. Two days ago I found a DLL file resource that was the best I'd ever seen! I use Win98SE and it listed EVERY DLL file, briefly told what it does, gives the version number ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bonnie V. writes: " Dear Dennis, I keep getting unsolicited emails that claim they are from a web address which in fact does not exist. Is there a mail rule that I can create in Outlook Express to check for valid web addresses, ... and block the ones that aren't valid (I.E.: a 'faked' web address)? " My Response: Rather than attempting to block all the offending emails, why not just create an anti-spam filter to delete all emails that are not from a list of your friends? Example: Apply this rule after the message arrives; Where the From line does not contain ' friend1 ... (view more)

Are you sick of hearing about my mis-adventures yet? I've got more to talk about, and if you want to keep informed about the status of the web site and newsletter delivery, you'll have to read up on it. So, here goes: The current host will literally ... pull the plug on the (current) web server effective November 30th which is at the end of the 30-day "money back guarantee" period. Access to the infopackets web site might be interrupted temporarily until the rest of the Internet catches up to par with my nameserver update. If you don't know what a nameserver is, or if you want to know ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Lavandran R. write s: " Dear Dennis, I have a program called Bargain Buddy installed on my computer, and I don't know where it came from! I'm not sure, but I think it's Spyware. When I tried to uninstall it, it refuses to ... uninstall and gives me error messages saying that I should make sure that the disk isn't full (which it isn't). It also asked me to make sure that the disk is not write protected and to make sure that the program is not actively in use. I'm confused! " My Response: Personally, I'd like to take Bargain Buddy and his cousin Bonzi Buddy and shoot ... (view more)

Recall Jack G.'s question from last week: " Every now and then my mouse is frozen when I boot up Windows XP. Is their anything I can do to fix this problem? " Since then, I've received a whole whack of suggestions from readers of the Gazette. In ... fact, I couldn't believe how many people share the same problem as Jack. Unfortunately, it would appear that there is not a one-set solution to this problem. So, I'll give you the best of the suggestions I received and hopefully it may resolve some of your problems. Suggestion #1: CTRL + ALT + DEL The most popular (temporary) solution was to ... (view more)

Does the drama ever end? No, and it's costing me a bundle. Unfortunately, I have to drop my current web-host because (among other reasons), bandwidth has been capped at 1.5 megabits. According to current server statistics, a 1.5 megabit connection ... isn't enough to meet the demand of knowledge hungry Infopackets Readers and the other web-owners who are sharing the dedicated web-server. And now, the rest of the story (for now)... If you read the last issue of the Gazette , the infopackets web site was originally configured for a 10 megabit connection. According to my current host, the server was ... (view more)

Much has been happening since I last wrote to you about the web server upgrade. If you want to read up on what's been happening, here's Part 1 and Part 2 . A quick recap Due to an increased in the amount of visitors hitting the infopackets web site, ... I had to upgrade the web server. I am now leasing a lightening fast Pentium 4 1.7 GHz Apache Web Server with 512 Meg DDR RAM a 60 gig hard drive. My web server package includes a "T1 Connection" which allots a continuous flow of 1.5 megabits of bandwidth per second at any given moment. The saga continues! Since the server has been ... (view more)

Recall yesterday's Visitor Feedback question which dealt with a disappearing Shutdown menu: " I'm running Windows 2000 Pro. When I try to shut down the machine by clicking on Start -> Shutdown, I no longer have the option to Shutdown, Restart, or ... Hibernate! In fact, the machine automatically does a restart, offering *no* choices when Start -> Shutdown is clicked... " There were many good suggestions sent in from the Infopackets Readers. Since I've never experienced this problem before, I can only guess at the most probable answers, starting with Pattie W.'s suggestion: " ... (view more)