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By JOHN TORRO
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 30, 2001
Q. In trying to clear my Temporary Internet Files, I followed Gateway's advice by right-clicking Internet Explorer on the desktop and clicking Properties. From there on the General tab under Temporary Internet Files section, I clicked Settings. On the Settings dialog box, I clicked View Files, but there was no response. Is there a way that I can clear my Temporary Internet Files?
A. Instead of clicking the Settings button, click the Delete button in the Temporary Internet Files section on the General tab. Click OK when asked to confirm the temporary files deletion.
Q. I want to have a disk in the CD-RW drive and use it like a floppy disk. That way I can go into a program and save the changes so I will not have to erase the disk, then rewrite the data. Is what I am trying to do possible?
A. The functionality that you're looking for will be available in Windows XP. Until then, you'll need special software that will do the premastering needed to write to a CD-RW on the fly. One such product is DirectCD from Roxio (formerly Adaptec Easy CD). Products such as DirectCD act as a resident installable file system driver and allow you to drag and drop from Windows Explorer or use the Save As commands from applications to save directly to your CD-RW.
Q. I have an older computer that had Windows 98 Second Edition on it. Part of Windows was deleted. I want to reinstall it, but I am missing a file. The computer had a file called Doscd. When I was in DOS I had to type that in to get the CD-ROM to work. I think it used MSCDEX. This file was deleted. Is there a way to get the CD-ROM file back so I can install Win 98?
A. MSCDEX is part of the real-mode (DOS) drivers for Windows. The Doscd file may be a command file that loaded MSCDEX along with the real-mode CD drivers specific to your CD-ROM. If all you need to do is reinstall Windows 98, use a Windows 98 (or later) Startup floppy. This will have generic real-mode drivers that will allow you to boot to either DOS or the boot diskette and run SETUP from the CD-ROM. If you don't have a Windows 98 Startup boot floppy, you can download one at www.bootdisk.com.
Q. I like to clean my hard drive yearly. I have Windows 95, 98 SE and Me. How do I do that? With Windows 3.1, you could format the C: drive in DOS, but there is no DOS in Windows Me and little in 98 SE.
A. The best way to do this is to boot using a Windows Startup floppy that has the real-mode CD-ROM drivers. You'll also want to copy the FORMAT.COM program from the C:\Windows\Command folder. After booting to the Startup floppy and choosing CD-ROM support, run the Format command on the C: drive. Since you'll have the real-mode drivers loaded on the floppy, you'll be able to run the Windows setup from your CD.
Q. This is a Microsoft Word for Windows 95 version 7 question: When using the mouse to select text longer than one screen, the entire document is automatically selected at high speed when the mouse reaches the bottom of the first screen. How do you adjust the speed to select only a part of a multiscreen document?
A. This can be frustrating. Sometimes the best option is not to use the mouse. Position and click the mouse at the beginning of what you want to select. Press and hold the Shift key. Then using a combination of either the Page Down or arrow keys, you'll be able to fine-tune your selection.