Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader Ken H. writes: " Dear Dennis, In the device manager, all of my DVD and CD-ROM devices won't work. Device Manager states that 'a driver for this device was not required and has been disabled (Code 32)'. Question: how can I get ... these devices to work again? I have uninstalled them and restarted the computer to let it find new drivers but that didn't work. I have scanned my PC for viruses and am clean. I have also researched this topic in Google and found a post which states that this error message can appear if you have Roxio Easy CD Creator (which I do). The post suggested a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Simon W. writes: " Dear Dennis, I made the transition from Windows 95 to XP a few years ago, and since the upgrade, I've noticed a change in the way the 'Save As' dialogue box works with MS Word. For example: Under Windows 95, I ... would select a section of a document, copy it, and then paste it into the Save As dialogue box, and the document would save with that filename. However, now when I right-click over top of the Save As dialogue box under Windows XP, I don't have the option to 'Copy' or 'Paste' anymore (as I once did in Windows 95). Hence, I have to manually type in a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader "Jessie" writes: " Dear Dennis, I play Yahoo pinochle quite often. Someone recently told me that they could track my ISP from inside the game room; I assume this could be done by clicking on my name while I'm in the game room. ... What kind of program would they use so that I can block my ISP to it and/or track their ISP? Thank you. " My response: Just to clarify: ISP means Internet Service Provider. For example: Bell Sympatico provides DSL Internet access to its customers. On the other hand: IP means Internet Protocol. Additionally, an IP Address is a number (like a "mailing ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bev C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I laughed out loud when the subject line of your newsletter, ' Dusting the Computer from the Inside? '. The funny thing is that I just dusted the inside my computer last night -- literally! As it ... turns out, HDD Health (freeware), alerted me late yesterday with a warning that my hard drive temperature was close to critical. So I shut down, opened case and left it to cool. Later on, I inspected the inside of the computer case. That's when I noticed that dust had built up (considerably) on my power supply vents and on my CPU. In fact, darn near ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Raymond T. writes: " Dear Dennis, It must be nice to know how all the rubber bands and wheels work to make the computer operate. I have been a computer user since 1982. Back then, I owned a Radio Shack TRS80 Mk 11, or a 'Trash ... 80', as they were called. It had stick figures that walked across the screen, stopped in the middle, turned and said, 'Hi ray!', so I just had to buy it. ;-) But now I am 65 and my memory is not as good as it used to be; in fact, I am getting to the stage where technology she gets better and memory gets worse. So, I want a program that will have a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Susan C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your newsletters ;-) Question: I am using Windows ME and tried to restore my computer to an earlier time using System Restore; however, the problem is that the computer keeps telling me to ... pick a earlier date on the calendar than what is available. For example: I can bring up the calendar to choose which restore to use, but the only option I have available is for December 1999. I have used system restore before, but for some reason it's now gone awol and won't let me pick another date. Is there any way that I can restore my computer to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Carol B. writes: " Hi Dennis, I read your article today about the user who is missing WordPad . I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but kellys-korner-xp.com has a downloadable executable for WordPad (see: #308 on the right hand ... side of the page). http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm One last thing: in your previous post, the user mentioned that his document files were no longer associated with WordPad. To reinstate this (using Windows XP): Right click on the file they want to open with WordPad. Select 'Open With' from the drop down menu. Select Choose Program, ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Kevin writes: " Dear Infopackets Team, The other day I clicked Start -> Programs -> Accessories in order to get to MS WordPad, but found that it was no longer there. I have spent an innumerable amount of time typing my DVD ... collection (titles) into WordPad; now when I click on my DVD document, I get a message stating that 'This file does not have a program associated with it.' I don't understand why all the sudden I can't open my document any longer and why WordPad isn't listed beside Notepad in my Start menu. Can you please tell me how I can get WordPad back so I can ... (view more)