Internet Exporer menubar changes will make Hotmail usable
By JOHN TORRO
Published April 4, 2005
Q. I can no longer open my Hotmail account. I get a message from the Microsoft login.passport.net Web site saying my Web browser options are set to disable cookies. To use .NET Passport you must enable cookies. I can't find anywhere on its Web site, including the Help box, how to enable cookies.
A. Try this: Through Internet Explorer menubar, click Tools, Internet Options and then the Privacy tab. Click the Sites button and then the Remove All button. Also, clear your Internet cache by clicking the General tab and the Delete files button.
Hope that missing files are in Recycle bin
Q. About 80 percent of my local folders, containing many important files, have disappeared. The list ends at the letter H. How can I restore these folders?
A. This doesn't sound good. First, go into the Recycle bin and check to see if somehow they were deleted accidentally and subsequently placed in the Recycle bin. If so, right-click them and select Restore. You also can try going to a command prompt and typing chkdsk. It will run in read-only mode and will do a consistency check on your file allocation table. Read carefully what it reports. A chkdsk with a /F parameter will attempt to fix what it can and turn lost files into multiple file000.chk files. But before you do that, go to www.file-recovery.net and check out the trial version of its Active File Recovery tool. There are some limits on the the size of the file you can recover using the free trial version, but at least you will see if there is anything to recover. Use the chkdsk as a last resort.
Uncheck PhoneTools at Startup to remove program
Q. A program called PhoneTools runs constantly behind the scenes. I cannot get rid of it. It shows up on Task Manager, but I cannot end the task. When I run a search, it shows up as several Internet temp files, which I am not allowed to delete. I don't know where this program came from.
A. Is this the Motorola program that allows you to use your cell phone with your modem? If so, it is probably running as a service. Click Start, Run and type MSCONFIG. Check the Services and/or the Startup tabs to find the PhoneTools application. You can then simply uncheck it and reboot.
Free program removes personal data from PC
Q. I purchased a new computer and need to get rid of the old. Is formatting the hard drive the best way to erase my personal information? Is there a worthy place you can suggest to donate the old one?
A. It is always recommended to securely erase all data on your PC before you donate or even throw it away. There are many freeware/shareware and commercial products that do this. In this case, I would recommend a free program called SDELETE. You can find it at www.sysinternals.com I have used programs from this site over the years and have found them to be among the best, most useful, safe and reliable applications available - and they're free. A 700 MHz PC is still useful, though even most charities are not accepting donations. Anyone have any thoughts on a worthy cause?
Remove friends' e-mail addresses from Blocked Senders list
Q. I accidentally did an e-mail block sender on two of my good friends. How can I reinstate them?
A. Are you talking about Outlook Express? If so, click on Tools, Message Rules, Blocked Senders list. Then find and select your two friends' e-mail addresses and click the Remove button.
Forgot password? Reboot in Safe Mode
Q. I changed my Windows XP password and (duh) forgot to write it down. Now I cannot log onto my computer. How do I get around this and can it be done safely, as in files deleted?
A. If you didn't put a password on the Admin user (or you did and you can remember it), try booting into Safe Mode (press F8 when you see the progress crawl when XP is booting). Sign in as Admin, go to Control Panel, User Accounts, select your regular login and click Remove Password. Once all is back to normal, you can prevent this from happening by creating a Password Backup disk. Again, go to Control Panel, User Accounts, select your regular login and click the Prevent forgotten Password link on the left. You will need to have a floppy or some sort of removable drive for this to work.
