Q. I have a new computer and want to transfer the names and addresses in my America Online address book. How can I (or can I) send my address book on my Quadra 950 AOL account to my new G4 via e-mail?
Howard Sandifer @mediaone.net
A. You’re a lucky man to own that G4, which is Apple Computer Inc.’s hottest new desktop computer, Mr. S. And you’re blessed again in that AOL has instituted movable address books for Macs and PCs alike since you bought that now elderly Quadra back when Steve Jobs was just another billionaire moviemaker and before his resurgence as Apple’s CEO for Life.
Windows and Mac users alike simply fire up their old machines, run AOL and select the Address Book choice from the Mail Center option at the top of the screen. You will find a Save/Replace icon at the bottom of the Address Book display. Click it and you will be prompted to create a file with all your addresses. That file can either be saved to a floppy disk and moved between computers or, as you say, it can be e-mailed and then restored on another computer’s AOL software.
The AOL software for Windows and Mac alike walks users through both the saving and the replacing process. This feature was added in the AOL 5.0 software that shipped in 1999 and is a most welcome improvement to those of us who have repeatedly lost those address books every time we changed computers.
Q. I write poetry and prose. I have over 250 files in WordPerfect format, because when I started that’s all I had. I find they are not compatible with my e-mail program (Outlook Express) or with any of my Microsoft composition programs. So if I send a poem or story to a friend, it becomes garbled to say the least. Is there out there a conversion program to convert my WP file to Word or Notepad? Thanks for the columns. They have been very helpful.
Thomas MacKrell @surferie.net
A. Let us go then, you and I, Mr. K. Let us go when the evening is draped out against the sky like a patient etherized on a table. With apologies to T.S. Eliot, let us go to www.jasc.com and download the free evaluation copy of the $60 Quick View Plus 6.0 file translation software.
This superb software will make quick work of letting you open those WordPerfect files and then copy them into Word or Notepad one at a time. Then (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) once you have used the free evaluation unit to translate those 250 poems, you can send the company $60 to have a boxed copy sent to you, or $50 to download the full version. You also can buy the software by calling (800) 622-2793.
Wink, wink, nudge, nudge aside, this is a superbly powerful tool that a great many PC owners will relish for its ability to open virtually any file ever cooked up and allow users to either view it or copy it into software they happen to own, such as you would do with that treasure trove of WordPerfect poetry.
Q. About 6 months ago we made the big move to go online, and took America Online as our Internet service provider. We have never been able to get it to work 100 percent, despite much conversation with tech support. We can do general stuff online OK, but we cannot do such things as file taxes or applications online, register to vote, buy things from some stores, and some downloading. We get the white screen that says, “This page cannot be displayed.” We have set the security parameters to “low” without success. We operate Windows 95, and have AOL 5.0. RealPlayer doesn’t work either. Is there an obvious solution for this? Upgrade Windows? Ditch AOL?
We enjoy your column immensely, as we are only a step above novice level in the computer realm.
Cynthia L. Love @juno.com
A. You’re certainly a big step or two above novice, Ms. L., and I hate to tell you this, but you’ve also figured out your problem.
So much has happened over the five years since Windows 95 made its debut back in August of 1995 that your computer’s resources and resident software no longer can handle all of the complex Internet software with names like Java applets, ActiveX, DirectX, codecs and such that are needed to make a browser fill out online forms, display Internet animated graphics and play the streaming audio with the likes of RealPlayer and Microsoft Media Player 6.
I notice you are using the non-Web Juno free e-mail service instead of America Online’s mailing software and suspect that is because you find it easier to use services that your aging computer and obsolete operating system (Windows 95) can handle, like the no-frills and rock-solid Juno.
This leaves me the glum task of advising that you probably won’t be happy even if you upgrade to Windows 98 because your hardware probably is as big a problem as software. It’s time to shop for a new computer, I fear. The only good news is that you will find that computer prices are dramatically lower (well less that half as much) than we were paying back when President Clinton was in his first term and you bought into Windows 95.
Q. Can you tell me how I might be able to display the things I do with my laptop computer on my living room television set. I have a Compaq Presario 1200 laptop, which has a port on the back labeled “external monitor.”
Given the relative sizes of the laptop screen and my console television screen, and that my eyes are not 20/20 anymore, is there a way to connect my laptop to the either the TV’s coaxial cable input or my VCR’s RCA jacks?
Richard Pulsifer @hotmail.com
A. All you need to display a computer’s screen display on a TV set instead of a traditional monitor is a simple box called an NTSC/VGA converter such as the Antec (www.antec-inc.com
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/product/product.html) that costs in the $100 range.
The hookup is a bit different for laptops than for desktops (Macs and PCs alike), but both are simple matters of plugging in a cable or two. With a desktop, you unplug the monitor from the back of the computer and plug the converter box into the computer instead. You then connect the converter box to your VCR or TV set using supplied RCA audio/video cables.
Happily, no software is required. The converter box simply transforms the signals from the computer’s video card into video used by TVs/VCRs. A second plug on the converter box lets you display the same screen on your regular monitor as on the TV.
With most laptops, including your Presario, you simply connect that VGA port on the back to the converter. Most laptops, yours included, also allow users to switch the display between the laptop screen and the VGA port.
Q. In a recent column you answered another reader’s question about moving data and files from one non-networked computer to another. Your advice suggested using the online storage service of mydocsonline.com. I was wondering if there was a more direct way.
My home PC is running on Windows 98SE and my portable, which gets the majority of my use, has Windows 98. Both have floppy drives, but neither one has a drive for any large capacity disk.
Is there some simple way that I can connect the two together to transfer data (mostly MS Word and Excel files)? I also want to use the home PC as another means of backing up my portable’s files.
Can this be done via the USB connections or the serial or parallel ports?
Bob Thomas, Lake Forest
A. It far easier to simply upload files to a Web storage service like mydocsonline.com and then download them on another computer. But, yes, Mr. T., there is a way the mechanically adept can rig a wire between two computers and move stuff back and forth.
You need special parallel port or USB cables to link two Windows 98 PCs together, but any computer store has them. Microsoft even posts the addresses of cable suppliers in the Windows 98 Help panels devoted to the operating system’s Direct Cable Connection module.
Once you have connected the two machines with the needed cable, you call up a “direct connection wizard” program that walks you through the needed steps to make the two PCs talk to each other and share files. To run the wizard, click on Start then Programs and Accessories and then Communications. There, you will see the Direct Connection icon that will walk you through the process.
If you can’t get the cables from a store, go to the Windows Help area and type in “Direct Cable Connection Troubleshooter” under the Search tab.
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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, IL 60611. If you think you’ve got a better answer to any of these questions, add your point of view at chicagotribune.com/go/askjim.