Q–I have a scanner that gives me a terrible time when I export a scanned file to Windows Paint for editing. The resulting file in the .bmp format is HUGE. HUGE, like four or five times the size of the 8 1/2-x-11 sheet I scanned. I can’t seem to reduce it back to the size I need to print on one sheet, and when I print it out of Paint, it takes several pages to print.
Dean Sherman, Concord, Calif.
A–I feel your pain, Mr. S., and maybe we can save a few trees by telling the world how to cut down to size those HUGE HUGE (pardon me for joining you in shouting) .bmp files created by and for the Paint program built into Windows.
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A little-known command included in Paint allows users to specify the size of images for either saving or printing. You can turn a poster into a postage stamp and versa vice using the Attributes command under the Image choice in the Paint menu bar. This brings up a box that lets you set the width and height of images.
Q–G’day, Jim. Occasionally I will have an application hang and refuse to be “killed.” In these instances I’m forced to turn off and sacrifice any work done in other idling applications. When this happens, a single Ctrl+Alt+Delete presents the list of running programs, but a request to End Task is ignored. I’m obliged to do a double Ctrl+Alt+Delete to shut down.
I don’t believe my problem derives from either living in Silicon Valley North (Ottawa) or our Canadian weather.
Moe Wright @ cyberius.ca
A–I thought the part of the world where they say G’day was a tad south of Ottawa, mate. Anyway, the sun never sets on all the places where your woes can be eased by a judicious use of the Alt+Tab command before you bomb out with Ctrl+Alt+Delete. The Alt+Tab trick calls up a box with icons for each and every program running. Quite often, moving from a crashed program to another application using this command gives one enough time to save work before the whole system goes nuclear.
Q–I want to record music from my analog devices such as tape recorders and then save the songs as digital sound files on my hard drive and, ultimately, record them on CD-R discs. My computer is a 1-year-old Gateway that came with a Creative SoundBlaster sound card and software. The sound card has an unused “input port” on the back, right next to the “output port” that connects to my speakers. Am I correct in thinking that this input port is only for a digital signal? I would like to be able to input analog audio so I can create CDs from my old LPs. Can you suggest an add-on sound board and software that will let me do this?
Mike Hardin @pepperlink.net
A–Your best bet is to simply upgrade your SoundBlaster card up a single notch to the PCI 512 version of the same device now in your machine. This $70 card adds that line-in port you need, along with a few other goodies.
An option also worth pursuing is the low-cost (under $40) IBM PCI Audio Adapter that would go in another PCI slot if you have one left. Included software handles recording and replaying.
In either case, you can use the software that came with your CD-R drive (probably Adaptec Easy CD Creator) to move your newly cut sound files from the hard drive onto CDs.
The software turns out CDs suitable either for playing in traditional music machines or for moving compressed audio files to other computers for playing there.
Q–For some reason, my machines have Microsoft Outlook Express as the news reader even though Microsoft Outlook is the e-mail program. For me, the Print button does not work in Outlook Express, so I cannot print messages from newsgroups. Can you suggest a fix?
Gerry Grant @rjfs.com
A–As you clearly know, Mr. G., Bill Gates poured everything imaginable into Outlook except for the kitchen sink and a decent way to read the 20,000 or so Usenet newsgroups that remain one of the true treasures of the Internet.
Outlook has a calendar, a fine little sticky-notes-type personal information manager, a turbocharged contact manager, and more bells and whistles in e-mail than any one person probably knows how to use. But lacking a newsgroup module, Outlook users are forced to load the Outlook Express bundled in the Internet browser to read newsgroups.
I hope that I can help fix your print button problem on Outlook Express by suggesting you make sure that Outlook Express has registered itself to use your printer. Click on File and then Print (instead of using the button icon at the top of the screen). Now check the display that comes up for the name of the printer to make sure that your printer is listed, rather than the numerous other options that can be listed there (such as fax, rendering, scanners). Once a proper printer is set in that display, the Print button will work again.
Q–A friend asked me to help him with a problem he was having with the ScanDisk utility in Windows 98. It had been running in “thorough” mode each time he booted up. He felt it was only a nuisance, so he deleted as many of the ScanDisk files that he could find and emptied the Recycle bin. Now an error message when he boots up says the scandisk.exe file is gone.
Is it possible to recover and reinstall the ScanDisk files that were deleted? I did try the Microsoft help database, but found nothing even remotely addressing this issue.
Mareska Fox @ mail.com
A–Your friend needs to restore the System Tools module built into Windows 98, Ms. F. Here is the recipe:
Click the My Computer icon on the desktop.
Click the Control Panel folder.
Click on Add/Remove Programs.
Look for the tab Windows Setup in the next display and check the box System Tools.
Click on Have Disk in the box you’ll see just below the System Tools check box.
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Click on the little arrow in the selection box that comes up next and scroll down to the choice C:
Windows
options
cabs.
This will restore and reregister ScanDisk, and your friend’s now long ordeal will be over.
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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.