Software

Infopackets Reader Berlin B. writes: " Dear Dennis, As part of my stringent preventive maintenance plan, I recently ran AdAware 6.0 and Norton AntiVirus software on my PC. Norton reported a number of 'at risk' files on my system. After I ran AdAware ... 6.0, the document files listed in the My Documents folder now show a .DOC extension with no associative icon. When I try to click these files, a window appears and asks me to select the appropriate file extension. It also warns me that if I select the wrong type, the file may become unusable. I was unsure what to do, so I ran System Restore ... (view more)

Over the weekend, a fellow named Bernie Madigan from Australia sent me a quick email to let me know of a nifty freeware utility he's recently developed. Bernie's new program is called FileMap and it helps users to identify whether or not Spyware has ... been installed on their machine. He writes: " I have just published FileMap version 3.0.1, which discloses files added to your system without your knowledge. The program is ideal for serious computer buffs, or for people who want [early warning incase their systems are ever hijacked with Spyware]. I would also like to thank Bob Helmer of ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Terry from PlanetSave.com writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running XP Professional. I have a large amount of background images listed in my Display Properties -> Desktop tab. Do you know how I can shorten this list? Happy Holidays. ... You have great newsletter! " My Response: I searched google.com for a utility that could modify / remove the list of entries found in Display Properties -> Desktop, but wasn't able to come up with anything. However, I do happen to know that a Windows will list .BMP picture files in the Backgrounds menu if there are .BMP picture files ... (view more)

This may be old news for some of you -- but, the Kazaa Lite web site has been shut down. I haphazardly stumbled across this fact over the weekend when I visited the main Kazaa Lite web site. The official word from about.com is that the Kazaa Lite ... project "has apparently been shut down under pressure from the company [Sharman Networks, which] manages the official Kazaa Media Desktop. [All 'hacked' versions of Kazaa Lite] have been removed from the primary download location [ http://kazaalite.tk ] and many mirror sites. For now, pre-installations of Kazaa Lite remain functional." ( ... (view more)

Recall -- Last week, Infopackets Reader Ian B. asked if there was a way to make his Windows 98 computer shut down and power off: " ... I have a win 98 computer that used to shut off the power after a Start -> Shutdown command was clicked, but now ... it just stops at that the 'It is now safe to shut down your computer' screen. Can you advise if this is a hardware or software fault, please? " In my response , I addressed a number of issues which may cause Windows 98 not to shut down properly, including: BIOS settings, Advanced Power Management (APM), device drivers, and programs which ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Lorraine M. writes: " Dear Dennis, Way too often while I am online, I receive an error message that says: 'Iexplore has caused an error in BTLINK.DLL. Iexplore will now close.' This seems to happen out of the blue and it is ... extremely annoying. Each time it happens, it takes me off the web site I'm visiting and back to the Windows desktop. How can I stop this from happening? " My response: I went to Google and researched "BTLINK.DLL". From what I understand, the BTLINK.DLL file is part of a Spyware program, called HuntBar. In a nutshell, HuntBar docs ... (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)

Infopackets Reader Pam S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your newsletter and it has helped me very much! One problem I've been having with my computer is the inability to run Java Scripts over the web. When my computer tries to initiate Java, a ... Window appears and tells me that it is missing shortcuts and cannot continue to run. I was told by a friend that I will have to reformat and possibly change operating systems ... I found that Windows 2000 was too difficult to use, so at this point, I reformatted and installed Windows XP Pro. Will I have to reformat again? " My response: As I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Pac' writes: " Dear Dennis, For some unknown reason, my Search function has stopped working with Windows XP (Home Edition) ... I read your recent article, 'Windows Search options are Blank?': Windows Search Options are Blank, ... Part 2 But, my circumstances are different. If I put the name of whatever I am searching for, hit search, the hourglass icon appears and then the Windows Search appears to do nothing. When I hit CTRL + ALT + DEL, the search program starts working. This one has me stumped! I would love to have the search program working normally. Any assistance is ... (view more)

Yesterday's feature article on Eazy Backup stirred up some emotions from a few Infopackets Readers. In fact, Tina P. from Franklin, Indiana told me about her recent horror story: " Dear Dennis, I am grinning now, although I wasn't on Monday! I just ... finished reading yesterday's feature article on Eazy Backup , and must admit: doing regular backups is very important. I don't know if it was a combination of the full moon last Friday and Monday's date being the 13th -- but it seems that all of my electronic equipment have formed a revolt. On Thursday, my desktop's motherboard finally gave ... (view more)