InBox

By DON McALLISTER

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

Q. "How do spam 'web beacons' work and will the preview pane in your email software activate them?" asks Jonathan.

A. Web beacons are internet addresses within an email that store photos etc to make the email look like a web page. The address of each link can contain a reference (such as the recipient email address) at the end. This tells the webmaster of the site which emails came back to draw content files - effectively telling the spammer that your address is active. Yes, a preview window will open the email, which then searches the web for the pictures, activating the beacon and later resulting in even more spam to your address. So if you get a lot of spam it's a good idea to turn off the preview pane.

Q. "Does XP have a 'safe mode' and how do I activate it?" asks Tony, who needs to run a virus removal program, which will operate only in safe mode.

A. Yes, XP has a safe mode, Tony, but it's started in a different way from previous Windows versions. Go to Start/Run. Type in "msconfig" and hit enter. Under the "Boot.ini" tab check "/safeboot". Hit OK, then the "restart" button. Once you have finished with safe mode, you'll have to repeat the process and uncheck "/safeboot" to restart in full Windows mode.

Q. "I have two MSN icons running at once in Windows XP," complains Daniel.

A. I had the same problem with the latest version of Messenger, Daniel. Here's the Microsoft Knowledgebase page on the issue and the solution of disabling the unwanted version.

Q. Replying to a problem last week I didn't include the viewer option for PowerPoint files as I have in previous articles.

A. As it was, the HTML idea I proposed is flawed if you don't include the directory of page components which is required for the presentation to work as a web page. The easiest way to view these files if you don't have PowerPoint installed is to download the viewer from Microsoft Office viewers.


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