Inbox

Compiled by DON McALLISTER

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

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Derek has sent several e-mails (with no attachments) to the Herald - only to have them bounced back to him due to an attachment called winmail.dat.

It's a computer language thing Derek. The Herald system interprets the RTF (rich text format) setting in your email program as an attachment called "winmail.dat". Don't ask why, just change your email program to Send in Plain Text. In Outlook 2000: Tools/Options/Mail Format or in Outlook Express 5: Tools/Options/Send.

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"In last week's column you helped John stop Outlook 2000 previewing emails. How is this done for Outlook Express 5?" ask David, Kerry and Kay.

Yes, it's annoying how these features are hard to find in different versions. Click on your inbox folder in Outlook Express, then View/Layout. Then un-check the box "Show Preview Pane." Now you can choose which emails to open.

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More on the "illegal operation" message in Explorer: Simon gets to Add/Remove programs OK, but once there's finds no Internet Explorer there to add or remove.

You probably have the original version that came with windows Simon. So it's time to update it. Go to the Microsoft site and install the latest version and the entry will appear. (The current version is IE5.5 and Service Pack 2).

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Lorayne and Barry are Netscape browser users. They too have a problem with Netscape Communicator freezing and creating errors.

If you're a real Netscape fan, it seems one way to stop these annoying problems is to completely remove Internet Explorer from your system. Shane Brooks in Australia (www.98lite.net) has created a program that removes Internet Explorer and apparently some of the problems. It also claims to give an improvement in the speed of Windows 98. There's a free demo version and the full version for cost $US25. But if you love your Internet Explorer, don't go here. So far my test machine with Windows 98 is running at a similar speed to Windows 95.

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Aage wants to change type size for viewing and printing in Outlook Express 5: "Times Roman is OK, but the size is only 9pt and very difficult to read for me. I am 85 and the eyes not the best."

No problem Aage. In Outlook Express 5, open your message, select View/Textsize/Largest. It should immediately become bigger text and should also print that way.

Links:


Microsoft downloads

98lite.net

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