Inbox

Compiled by MICHAEL FOREMAN

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

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"How can I record my Outlook Express address book details on a floppy disk for backup purposes?" Graham asks.

First, make sure you have a floppy disk in the drive. Now, within the Outlook Express main menu, click on tools/address book. Click on file/export/address book in the address book window and a save dialogue box will pop up. Once you've typed in a name for the file, say "backup," you'll need to select the floppy disk as the destination. A quick way of doing this is to click the "view desktop" button (second on the right), then click on my computer/floppy drive (A:). Finally click on "save." If you ever lose your original address book you will be able to restore it by clicking on tools/address book file/import/address book and selecting the file on the floppy.

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PC clock troubles continued: Louise's question last week about her PC's clock, which loses half an hour a month, hit a nerve with Inbox readers. We have received a deluge of e-mails suggesting possible causes and fixes as well as several messages from people suffering from similar problems. Anne takes the prize for owning the PC with the quirkiest clock - her newly purchased computer loses 30 minutes every evening but somehow reverts to the correct time during the day.

Suggested causes for clock problems include the difference between New Zealand time and Universal or Greenwich Mean Time, or the country's electricity supply, which runs at 50Hz instead of 60Hz as in the United States. We think the latter suggestion is unlikely as PC clocks run off a small button-type battery on the motherboard. As Mark, Eric, Harriet, Alf and others pointed out, when this battery starts to go flat the clock may lose a few minutes a month. Alf managed to replace his battery for just $4, but he reckons it's worth paying a computer dealer $50 or so to do this for you as well as giving your PC a tune-up at the same time.

Software problems can also affect the clock, for example Paula (surname withheld to prevent her being "killed" by her boss) notices that her PC loses a few minutes every day - except on those days she doesn't play internet games. Software causes are indicated if your clock is losing or gaining an exact unit of time, say 30 minutes or an hour, but pinning down the offending program may be difficult.

But if all this seems too complicated, Keith has a solution: "Do what I do - ignore the time display on your monitor and just look at your wristwatch!"

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