Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader Richard D. writes: " Dear Dennis, Can you please tell me if it is possible to disable the Windows Page File [also known as virtual memory or swap file]? I have an especially large amount of RAM inside my PC and as far as I'm ... concerned, I don't need the Windows Page File because I doubt I'd ever run out of available RAM. I've read a number of conflicting reports on the Internet that suggest it is possible to disable the Windows Swap File and that in doing so, my PC performance will be improved. However, I've also read that disabling virtual memory would be dangerous. What do ... (view more)

Microsoft's Office and Word contain a critical security hole that has already been exploited by hackers. According to Panda Software Labs, 1Table.A arrives as seemingly harmless Word document, but unlocks a backdoor Trojan that allows a hacker to ... run code on a victim's computer. Microsoft has released little to no information about the vulnerability affecting Office 2002/2003/XP and Word 2002/2003, but is already under pressure to fix the hole, as hacker attacks are surfacing via the dropper Trojan 1Table.A. If a user runs 1Table.A, it exploits this security problem to release a backdoor ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jill P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I find your articles very interesting and informative. Thanks for that. Question: In the My Documents folder, my music, pictures, etc. are appearing on my husband's screen of Windows XP. I tried to ... make the folder private (with no sharing privileges), but the option is ghosted and won't allow me to choose this feature no matter what I do. How can I make my folders private? " My response: According to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article #307286, the folders you wish to remain private must reside in "your user profile (Drive_letter:\Documents and ... (view more)

In case you missed it: yesterday I announced that Acronis True Image version 9 is on sale through our web site at 20% off the regular price. Furthermore: if you purchased True Image 6, 7, or 8 through our web site previously, you can also grab the ... upgrade to version 9 at 20% off. I also announced that there was a major update to True Image version 9 that allows you to record directly to a DVD Recordable drive without using third-party packet writing software (as with previous versions). RE: Yesterday's Discount Codes Not Working Having said all that: I guess I "jumped the gun" a bit yesterday ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Don S. writes: " Dear Dennis, Last year, I took your advice and downloaded Acronis True Image 8.0. Since then I have updated to version 9.0. This week I just received notice of a new update for version 9.0 that allows me to burn ... my image backups directly to DVD without any third-party packet-writing software. The update is available for free to current registered users. I just wanted to pass on this note. Thanks for all the good stuff you do! " https://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/updates/ My response: Thank you, Don, for sending me this email! A handful of users have ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Mary C. writes: " Dear Dennis, Is there a way to do a BCC [Blind Caron Copy] from a list of email addresses I keep stored in MS Word? I want to copy and paste email addresses to an email message using Outlook Express, but it seems ... that I can only do this if addresses are present in my Address Book. Can you help? " My response: You can copy and paste a list of email addresses into the BCC field (or the TO: field for that matter) by separating the list of email addresses with commas or semi colons. For example: email@one; email@two; email@three, etc. For more information on ... (view more)

Today I'd like to wish Douglas Godbey a Happy Birthday. Today, Doug turns the ripe age of 60! Since this past November, Doug joined our Editing Team and has proven to be invaluable in helping to answer the many email questions sent in daily from our ... Readers. Doug has been in the IT industry for the last 38 years and is a Certified Software Quality Assurance Engineer, UNIX System Administrator, and a self-proclaimed software-a-holic. Doug is also a recent Stroke Survivor which left him partially paralyzed on his left side, hence the name of his Blog web site, "The Handicapped Computerist." In ... (view more)

SpywareQuake is the latest rogue anti-spyware program that dupes unsuspecting users into registering (paying) for a full version of the program in order to remove a supposed Spyware infection. SpywareQuake operates in the same manner as SpyAxe and ... SpywareStrike by issuing fake warning messages similar to Windows Update Notification balloons. Click here for an example. Like SpyAxe and SpywareStrike, SpywareQuake infects the host computer due to an exploit ("bug") in MS Windows. This exploit *must* be resolved by visiting Windows Update after SpywareQuake is removed; otherwise, you ... (view more)

One of my all-time favorite multi-purpose optimization utility programs just got a major update. Of course, I'm talking about the release of WinOptimizer Platinum version 3: and there's plenty to talk about. To recap: What is WinOptimizer Platinum? ... For years, millions of users have depended on Ashampoo's award-winning WinOptimizer series to keep their PCs clean and running smoothly and efficiently. As one user put it, "[WinOptimizer Platinum 3] gives you all the maintenance tools that should have been included with Windows in the first place. And it's all so easy to use, you don't need a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Sandy' writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your newsletters! Thanks so much for doing it. I've done searches for .JPG picture files using Windows Search (Start -& Search). The results appear, and then I usually click View -& ... Thumbnails to see the little pictures of each image file. I have a floppy disk that has hundreds of website templates, but in order to see what each of them look like, I have to double-click each one individually and they open up in Internet Explorer. Question: Do you know of a program that will allow me to preview all my HTML files (similar to the ... (view more)