Solutions: Removing unwanted icons from your screen

Q. How do I remove unwanted icons from my screen?

A. Drag and drop these icons into the Recycle Bin or right-click them and select Delete. You may receive a warning message that you're only deleting the shortcut and not uninstalling the application, in case that is what you really intended. If it is the entire application associated with the icon that you want to remove, go to Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs and select the application from the list of installed applications and click Remove.

What is Loadwc?

Q. I have Windows 95. When I start up the computer, it starts several programs in the background (not all appear on the task bar). When I hit Ctrl-Alt-Del, these programs appear in the list of running programs, but do not on the task bar: Explorer, RealPlayer, Loadwc. I assume Explorer is okay, but how can I turn off RealPlayer? Do I want to turn off Loadwc?

Also, the spell checker in Outlook Express is not working because I do not have Office, Office 97, Work, Excel or PowerPoint. Can I buy a spell checker for Outlook Express without getting the above Microsoft products?

A. Loadwc is part of Internet Explorer and is responsible for updating your user profile and preferences. If you install the Windows Desktop Update component with Internet Explorer, the updated Explorer.exe becomes responsible for the user profile update functionality of Loadwc.exe. When this occurs, Loadwc.exe is not loaded. My recommendation is to just leave it alone. I am not aware of a plugin-type spell checker that works with Outlook Express. You may want to try searching online.

Mirroring disk drives

Q. I worked with IBM and Sun Unix workstations. A nice feature of these systems was that you could have multiple hard drives and mirror your data. Then in the event of a crash, you did not lose anything; you just replaced the bad drive. Considering the relative low cost of hard drives, this would seem like an inexpensive insurance policy against losing your data. Can you do this with Windows?

A. Disk mirroring (RAID level 1) is the process whereby a volume, or disk partition, is mirrored to two different physical disks. Data written to the mirrored volume is written to both, which supplies data redundancy in the event of a disk failure. Disk mirroring is supported only on the Windows 2000 Server family of operating systems. Windows XP Home and Professional do not support disk mirroring. A more realistic alternative for the typical home PC user would be to install mobile disk racks (they allow you to externally plug in disk drives) and use imaging software (Norton, Quest) to make quick backup images of disk drives.

Picking a new printer

Q. I'm considering buying a new printer. Some machines list their resolution at 2,400 by 1,200, others at 2,880 by 720. I have spoken to manufacturer sales representatives from both companies and each say their resolution is better. Who's right?

A. Technically, the 2,400 by 1,200 means that it will print 2.88-million dots per inch (2,400 multiplied by 1,200), which is about 40 percent more than 2,073,600 DPI (2,880 multiplied by 720). The numbers represent vertical and horizontal resolution. The bottom line here is which one looks better and which one has the features that you need. Customer satisfaction and reliability also are good things to consider. Usually an Internet search will get you this info.

Picking a new e-mail default

Q. I installed digital camera software on my computer. When I try to e-mail a picture, it tells me I need Microsoft Outlook. I use Outlook Express for my e-mail and can't find Outlook on my computer in Add/Remove Programs.

A. Microsoft Outlook is part of Microsoft Office. Installation, removal and changes regarding Microsoft Outlook need to be done through Microsoft Office installation procedures. You will be able to choose the delete option for Microsoft Outlook there. If you still have problems with your digital camera software, check it for changeable options regarding the default mail client or try reinstalling it. To change the default mail client systemwide, do this:

1. Start Internet Explorer.

2. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.

3. Click the Programs tab.

4. In the E-mail box and in the Newsgroups box, click the program you want.

5. Click OK.

Defrag interruptions

Q. My IBM Aptiva L71-2140 has Windows 98 SE and has become increasingly annoying during defrag because it stops and restarts probably 10 to 15 times during the process. Find Fast has been removed and I disabled Norton AntiVirus 2002 during the process.

A. Something is still getting its attention every so often. The simplest way around this is to start in Safe Mode, disable AntiVirus, then try the defrag again.

Clearing up e-mail gibberish

Q. I am running Windows 98 and using Outlook Express to e-mail. Under options, then MIME format, which encoding should I use: none, quoted printable or base 64? I am having a problem with the recipients of my e-mails getting gibberish instead of the text I sent. Also, under encoding, should I be using Western European ISO and how do I get it to default to that encoding without having to use the dropdown menu every time to change it?

A. Normally, the default settings don't need to be changed. Perhaps yours is out of whack. This is known to happen when the original message is not included in the reply. To view your setting that controls this, open Outlook Express, then go to Tools, Options, Send tab, Include Message in Reply setting. If this option is not selected, Outlook Express uses as a default the UNICODE character set, which may not be readable by the recipient. You can fix this by selecting a character set when composing a reply. To do this:

1. On the Format menu, click Encoding.

2. Select the encoding: Western European (Windows).

You also can work around this problem by setting the Include Message in Reply setting described above.

Blocking unwanted e-mail

Q. Is there any way to block unwanted e-mail on Outlook?

A. On the standard toolbar, click Organize, Junk E-Mail. Turn on the options for filtering Junk messages and Adult Content messages. Outlook searches for commonly used phrases in e-mail messages and can automatically move messages containing these phrases from your Inbox to a junk e-mail folder created by Outlook, to your Deleted Items folder or to any other folder you specify. You can find the list of terms that Outlook uses to filter suspected junk e-mail messages in a file called Filters.txt, located in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\1033 folder.

You can also create custom rules that include additional words or phases that are not included in the Filters.txt file. To create custom rules, go to the Tools menu, click Rules Wizard, then follow the instructions on your screen. For more information, type Junk Mail in the builtin help for Microsoft Outlook.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright