Inbox highlights

Compiled by Peter Sinclair

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

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And the winner is! I had no idea the plague of friends sending screeds of unwanted pics and pointless jokes was so widespread. There were some great entries, from the tactful ("just say you've never had much of a sense of humour") to the murderous ("'Stuff off' works for me ... ").

But I liked Steve Chaplin's range of alternatives, one of which is a winner: create another account in Outlook Express with a return address something like admin@yourServiceProvider.com, making the message "Mail rejected" and the subject "This mailbox cannot receive HTML content. If you have sent a joke or graphic to this e-mail address, it has been rejected." Making the return address different means that if they respond it will just get bounced back. Congratulations, Steve, is your second name Borgia? You've won a copy of GoBack, "oops insurance for your computer." You'll thank us if your hard drive turns to custard one day - you'll be able to go back to when your computer worked fine and the world was a happier place ...

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This is Trev Woodham coming to the rescue of the many readers who write that they're all fragged out: "Regarding Joe Nol and Chas Lowe's defrag problems, go to www.powerdefrag.com and download Power Defrag version 2.00 Lite. It is freeware and will run non-stop, straight through and reboot your system at the end. I used to have plenty of trouble with the windows defragger too, but not any more with this brilliant little programme."

Good luck, and let me know if it really is any good, someone.

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Ron James' desktop looks like a dog's breakfast: "I have run my computer now about two years, using Windows 98, with no more than the usual computer frustrations. For the last two months, however, every time I boot up, the desktop opens with the background black with large, high-contrast icons & letters, instead of my usual Windows Standard nice green background. I know how to change the background appearance, but don't know how to stop it happening each time. Last week, I upgraded to Windows ME to try to make the platform more stable, but it is still happening. Can you help?"

I consulted Don McAllister, the High Geek, who said: "I suspect the accessibility options are on and set for the vision impaired! The answer is simple - go to: start/settings/control panel, select accessibility options, choose the display tag at the top, uncheck the use high contrast box, hit the apply button, then the OK button, and hopefully Bob should be your uncle ... "

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Willem Boer is frustrated: "Some weeks ago I was able to get NZ webpages through www.altavista.co.nz but now am not able to. Wonder what I do wrong? I remember reading that AltaVista has moved to NZ and caters only for NZ websites. So. Has another search engine taken its place?"

They've just tweaked the web address, Willem. The address you want now is http://nz.altavista.com - and then check the "New Zealand" box to round up just local results. And don't forget that auction giant eBay has also established a similar local presence.

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More of your Inbox questions will be answered tomorrow in CyberLunch, on air 12-1 with Murray Lindsay and Peter Sinclair on Classic Hits 97FM.

Links:

GoBack

Powerdefrag

Altavista NZ

Ebay


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