Inbox

By DON McALLISTER

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

What are newsgroups and how can I get them? asks Vinesh.

They are text-based discussion postings duplicated worldwide on to servers at most internet providers. Subjects cover everything imaginable and number in the tens of thousands. These postings are mainly text, but can also storing programs and pictures in Binary (a basic type of computer language), which is then able to be decoded within Outlook Express. Your internet provider, Xtra, has a page of setup instructions for Outlook Express to read and post to newsgroups. A word of warning - as with email, binary files from newsgroups may contain a nasty payload and must be virus scanned before activation.

"Norton Antivirus intercepted a Klez file and slammed it into quarantine!" Danny asks what he should do with it.

Delete it, Danny. It can't be repaired. Norton saved it in case it was important.

Peter and Neville have an annoying glitch where Windows 98 refuses to save their dialup password, even though they check the Save Password box.

Your password list file is damaged. This file contains all passwords for the current user, and any damage will result in repeated prompts for any password-protected resource. To delete it, go to Start/Find/Files and Folders. Type in: *.pwl. The file should be within the C\Windows directory. Find it, right click and select delete. A new file will be created next time you type in the password and check the Save Password box.

The PHP computer language site is www.php.net (not .com as published last week). The dotcom site is the Parents Helping Parents page, which was not quite what I intended. Thanks, Sean, for pointing this out.

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