Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Technology

Solutions: Power modes also save you time

By JOHN TORRO
Published September 17, 2007

Q. Can you please answer the question of whether it's healthier for a desktop in an air conditioned home to be left on most of the time or shut down after each use? For example, if I use the computer in the morning and then go off to work for 10 hours, should I shut the computer down or keep it running since I'll use it when I get home? It has pretty good ventilation.

A. I recommend the best of both worlds: Use the power management utilities to power down parts such as fans, hard drives and monitors after a period of inactivity. You can find the power options in Control Panel. When in power saving mode, a mouse wiggle or keyboard activity will bring the machine back to full power in just a few seconds. If you know the PC won't be used for more than a few days, power down.

Q. I am having a problem receiving my e-mail. All of a sudden, in the middle of the work day, I was unable to receive e-mail. I can send e-mail out, but I'm unable to receive through Outlook Express or Incredimail. I have contacted Incredimail support and they have tried several fixes, and they recommended that I contact Road Runner support. When I contacted Road Runner, they found nothing wrong. My incoming mail was on their server. All my Road Runner settings were checked and are okay. I can retrieve my incoming mail by connecting through the Internet to Road Runner Web Mail. My Internet connections are working fine. Road Runner and Incredimail support seem to think the problem is on my computer corrupted files?. I am using a Dell Dimension 4000, Windows XP Pro/SP2 and all security updates. I have tried disabling Symantec Anti-Virus. No help. I have run Spyware Doctor and Spybot S&D daily. Nothing found. This computer is being used on a small office network (six computers, Windows 2003 Server). No one else is having problems with their e-mail.

A. As long as your Incoming (POP3) and Outgoing (SMTP) server settings check out with your ISP, file corruption should be the next troubleshooting strategy. Sometimes a damaged Folders.DBX file will prevent Outlook Express from sending e-mail. There is a $7 utility you can download from www.oehelp.com/DBXpress called DBXpress that will fix corrupted DBX files with little or no data loss. If it is not important to keep your e-mail files, try this free solution: Close Outlook Express. Click Start, Find and then click Files or Folders. Type Folders.dbx in the Named box. In the Look In box, click your C Drive and then click Find Now. When the file is found, right-click it and select Rename. Rename it to folders.old, and then click OK. Start Outlook Express, which will create a new Folders.dbx file. If you still have problems, run the Windows System File Checker (SFC). This is a good utility to run when you suspect system files have been corrupted. To run the file checker click Start, Run, and then type in SFC /scannow (make sure you leave a space between SFC and /scannow). Have your installation CD available in case SFC needs to replace a damaged file.

Send questions to personaltech@sptimes.com or Personal Tech, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. Questions are answered only in this column.

[Last modified September 14, 2007, 23:14:52]