Inbox highlights

Compiled by MICHAEL FOREMAN

Welcome to InBox, where we attempt to answer your internet questions.

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* Chas Lowe has a problem with Windows Scandisk and Defragmenter programs. "When I start the process on the C: drive the files are checked so far and then return to the beginning and start all over again. Likewise when defragmenting the process will not go past 1 per cent before starting all over again and never finishing. I do close all running programs before starting.

You may think that you have closed all programs, Chas, but this sounds to me as if a background task is attempting to write to the C: drive at the same time as Scandisk is. The way to check this is to hold down the Ctrl key then press Alt and Del at the same time. This will bring up a pop-up window that reveals all tasks that are currently running. If you check down this list, you might find a program that you suspect is writing to the hard disk. If this is the case, you can disable it by clicking on the End Task tab. However, you should proceed with care as clicking on some tasks such as Explorer might cause the system to crash. If you don't recognise a task, then a search with Start/Find/Files or Folders may reveal more information.

* John, a Windows 98 user, has just had some photos put on a CD for the first time. "How do I view them?" he asks.

Digital cameras usually come with some fairly sophisticated photo album and slideshow software these days, but Windows 98 includes two simple picture viewers, which you'll find at Start/Programs/Accessories/Paint and Start/Programs/Accessories/Imaging. For a more capable viewer, you'll need a program such as ACDSee, which is available on a free trial at ACD systems.

* Bert wants to email an A4 page while maintaining the integrity of its appearance including the typefaces used, size of graphics, typographic parameters etc. "I am using Eudora Pro to send, after setting the page in either Corel 6 or Pagemaker 6. I do not want to use any part of the document as an attachment."

Bert, I'm afraid the only way to maintain the integrity of a document like the one you describe is to send it as some form of attachment. You could either save it in Corel or Pagemaker's own format or else in a universal format such as an Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) file, which may be read by many other programs or printers.

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