InBox

By DON McALLISTER

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

Q. A phone line power surge effectively trashed Ivor's computer: "My old machine (a P400) refuses to detect my 40GB Samsung hard drive yet it works in a friend's Pentium 600. Is there any way to get it to work? I don't need the software on it, just a drive that works!"

A. Your old 400 bios won't detect drives larger than 32GB, Ivor. Luckily most large modern drives can be set to 32GB in this situation BUT the old contents will be lost! In your particular drive there are eight jumper pins; jump A & B and C & D to limit the size to 32GB as a master drive. Confirm the bios is set to auto-detect the primary drive and boot the machine.

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Q. Further on Ivor's fried computer woes: where did he go wrong?

A. Ivor was using a cheap surge spike protector designed for appliances. Effective computer protection requires faster response with both phone and power line protection. They start at about $60 from DSE. If your budget allows get an uninterruptible power supply for around $268.

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Q. Earl has Netscape installed as well as Internet Explorer: "I seldom use Netscape but somehow it has become the default browser for any links that I open from emails. How can I change that back so that links open in IE?"

A. It's simple Earl, Open IE/Tools/Internet Options/Programs, Make sure there is a tick in the box named "Internet Explorer should check to see whether it's the default browser". Now restart Internet Explorer and it will ask if it should be the default browser.

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Q. "I'm using Windows XP, and I accidentally deleted the quick-launch show desktop icon. Is there any way to get it back?" David asks.

A. Yes, there is, David, open Notepad and enter the following text.

[Shell]

Command=2

IconFile=explorer.exe,3

[Taskbar]

Command=ToggleDesktop

Save the new file as: Show Desktop.scf, to your desktop; then drag-and-drop the icon to the Quick Launch bar.


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