Q–I have been using Eudora as my mail client for the past few years, but recently I have been looking at the Netscape Messenger as an excellent e-mail facility as well.
However, I am unable to find out where to tell Windows 95 that I no longer wish to use Eudora and, instead, start using Netscape.
Any chance you could steer me in the right direction, please?
Bruce Starling @sprint.ca
A–Normal, sane people shouldn’t have to put up with this, but to change from one e-mail program to another you must transfer some slightly complex settings called popmail and smtp from one program to the other.
It’s best to get those two settings from your Internet service provider and then type them into Netscape.
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The settings look like this:
popmail.mcs.com
smtp.mcs.com
Click on Edit in Netscape and then choose Preferences and then Mail and then Mail Server in the selection panels that come up.
You will find boxes into which you will type the popmail and smtp codes. From then on you can simply open the Netscape Messenger program whenever you want to check e-mail.
Q–Is there a way to exchange desktop locations of individual shortcut icons in Windows 98? I know you can drag an icon to a new location, but instead of exchanging places with the icon occupying the desired position, doing so usually displaces one or more other icons, making it impossible to place each icon exactly where you want it.
D.L. Davis @flashdot.net
A–I’ve got your answer almost faster than you can say “snap to the grid, Gridley.” All you need to do is disable the Auto Arrange setting for your Windows desktop icons. Right-click on the desktop and pick Arrange Icons and you’ll find a check beside a choice marked Auto Arrange in the next box.
Click that check off and you can move items at will and they will stop wherever you leave them rather than snapping back and spoiling your attempted arrangements, as now happens. Once you get things just so, restore the Auto Arrange and your settings will be permanent until you repeat the process.
Q–I have suggestions to the Ask Jim answer to the person who asked you the question regarding “Printing from Internet” while using Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Netscape is one of the best answers for him to print from Internet. Netscape has print preview option under File tab at top. That’s one of the main reasons I use Netscape.
Sri Katta @wallace.com
A–As you and many other readers noted, Netscape outdoes Explorer big time in the area of getting print previews before sending documents stored on the Web to the printer. Netscape has a preview function and Explorer simply does not. I thank you all for that bit of most welcome enlightenment.
Q–When I ran the ScanDisk program in Windows 98 checking for errors on my hard drive, I got a message that stated “ScanDisk has restarted 10 times, probably because a Windows application is running.” How do I run this program without getting this message and complete the task? Is it me or Windows 98?
Pat McGarry @idph.state.il.us
A–It ain’t thee, McGee; it’s our old nemesis, Bill G. Almost everybody running Windows 98 has one or more programs set to start up when the machine is powered up and thus encounter the same glitch as you when attempting to run the ScanDisk utility, which is designed into Windows to check the hard drive for physical flaws and corrupted file location data.
ScanDisk could cause real problems if it tried to clean up a disk while any changes were made to its content during the reading process, so that error message comes up a lot for Mr. Gates’ long-suffering customers.
The best work-around is to start your computer in a special state called Safe Mode and then run ScanDisk and then return the machine to normal.
To get into Safe Mode, click on Start and then pick Shut Down and then click the choice Restart but hold down the control key when the machine boots up. You will get a menu where the third choice is Safe Mode.
Pick it and your machine will boot up with a strange, clunky look and no drivers or other software running.
Now run ScanDisk and then restart the computer and choose Normal the next time that special screen comes up.
Q–My employer has installed several new G3 Power Macs that I occasionally use. I am baffled by the design of the river-pebble-shaped mouse. Is it ergonomically correct? I can’t believe it is, but I haven’t seen any press about it, one way or the other.
jeanholland @aol.com
A–This writer has suffered enough nerve damage from using ill-designed mice to consider what you so aptly called the sleek new G3 and iMacs’ river-pebble mouse just short of attempted assault and battery on its customers by Apple Computer Inc.
The good news is that since the new Macs use the Universal Serial Bus to connect mice, it is very easy to find a proper and comfortable replacement in the Mac aisle of most computer stores.
Q–While messing around with my monitor the other day, I clicked on something called “degauss.” It was like someone kicked my computer! What was that? What did it do? Did it damage my computer?
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Mary Yahr, West Bend, Wis.
A–For those readers who think that degauss was a French painter with a taste for ballet dancers, read on.
Degauss devices are built into monitors to prevent the chemical particles on the other side of the screen from becoming magnetized and thus incapable of displaying the proper dots (pixels) needed to draw images on the screen.
When activated, they create a strong magnetic field for a brief time to realign the plus- and minus-charges on the screen as they should be.
The only way you could do any damage would be to hold a floppy disk or some other magnetic storage cartridge against the screen when you pull the degauss trigger.
So don’t do that, OK?
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Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at [email protected] or snail mail at the baiduhai, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 60611. If you think you’ve got a better answer to any of these questions, add your point of view at www.chicagotribune.com/go/askjim.