Q– A while back you answered the question: “How do I get my e-mail from another location?” suggesting the use of the popmail service, which requires making changes on the computer you use. I travel a lot for business, and I need to get my msn.com mail at another location where I don’t have the ability to change the settings in someone else’s system. I am looking for a Web site that I can get to, enter my user name and password and get my mail. Is there such a thing?
P.S.: I teach MS Office and MS Project for a living!
Ellen Lehnert @msn.com
A–We have that gig of trying to help folks use Microsoft software in common, Ms. L. As you suspect, the popmail service built into almost any Internet service provider’s e-mail service can allow one to forward e-mail to one of the many Web-based e-mail services.
These Web sites let you log on to any Internet browser you come across during your daily rounds and offer e-mail accounts on the order of [email protected]. Less well-known is the fact that they almost always let users access their e-mail accounts on traditional Internet service providers using the popmail feature, which is explained in detail during the setup process.
Because of your Microsoft ties, I suggest you resist the temptation to use Microsoft’s own www.hotmail.com Web site and opt for one that works more reliably. The Hotmail site has become so complex with pitches for other Microsoft services that the confusion it causes isn’t worth the trouble.
I recommend www.excite.com, which makes it very easy for you to fill out a simple form and then receive a copy of all e-mail sent to your Microsoft Network address on any Web browser at hand.
Q– I have a Pentium-class computer running Windows 95 and am upgrading it to Windows 98. Will I have any problems with the programs that currently run on Windows 95?
Barry Popper @aimnet.com
A–Microsoft executives assure their customers that Windows 98 is all but totally backward-compatible with Windows 95, so your upgrade will be no problem in that direction.
But keep in mind that there are growing numbers of products that work fine with Windows 98 but are not compatible with Windows 95.
These tend to be programs that deal with things like 3-D graphics and software that require such Windows 98-specific hardware capabilities as the new universal serial bus connectors or video cards for the PC version of WebTV.
Q–I have a Pentium III 450 Intel, AGP motherboard, 128 RAM running Win 98. The problem is whenever I’m on the Net or in MS Office (Word, Excel, etc.), the system hangs. I do a CTR+ALT+DEL, get a message that the system is busy, either wait for the system to wrap up and close files or do CTR+ATL+DEL again to restart the system. I wait five to 10 minutes and nothing happens, so then I reboot.
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All’s fine for a while, then it hangs again. It’s driving me nuts. Got any answers?
Sean McGonagle, Dublin, Calif.
A– In a word, maybe. Your problem could be lots of things, including some kind of mechanical flaw, possibly a corrupted RAM chip, or a glitch in the operating system. It’s more likely, however, that your computer is set up to run some program in the background, and when that program gets triggered it conflicts with whatever you’re doing.
The way to explore for an errant automatic loading program in Windows 98 (unavailable in Windows 95) is to open the Start menu, chose Run and type in msconfig.
This calls up a list of all the stuff running in the background with a box alongside each to disable it. By disabling these programs one by one, you should find the problem after a bit of trial and error.
Q–I need help with a couple of scanners I want to use on a single computer. I have a combo HP600 and want to connect that scanner so it can be used to copy book pages, pictures, film strips and slides. I also have a sheet-fed scanner I would like to use for other tasks on the same machine.
William Rieck, Chicago
A–Industry standards developed for scanners have the happy feature of allowing one to install needed driver software for multiple devices and then move from one to another by changing the setting for Source on the software one wants to run.
So you can connect your scanners to the printer port one at a time and select the proper source when the scanner software runs. Or, in many cases, you also can do what is called daisy chaining by connecting one scanner to the computer and the second scanner to the first and then use the Source setting to pick the one you want to use at any given moment without having to unplug one and plug in the other.
Q–I have a serious problem. I am a journalist, but not really computer-knowledgeable. A lot of people send me mme. or mime files that my computer won’t open. I have a PC with Windows 95. Is there some software I need to purchase to be able to read these files? Also, does Free Adobe Acrobat Reader take up a lot of space on the hard drive? I’m reluctant to download it for fear it will take up too much space.
Charles Cox @aol.com
A Fire up America Online and hit Control + K for Keyword and type in Mime in the box. You will get an explanation of how these Multimedia Internet Mail Extensions work and will be given a Web link to let you download any one of a number of decoders. The easiest is www.winzip.com, which offers the superb WinZip software for download.
As to your other question, Acrobat Reader’s installation file alone takes up more than 5 megabytes of drive space and when you expand it, roughly 8 megabytes of drive space get used. But for a journalist, this is all but a must-have, because so many firms and government bodies have taken to posting information in Adobe formats.