Windows Tips and Tricks

In the previous entry, I mentioned a method for combining Outlook Express (OE) email messages into a single file for the purposes of archiving or transferring to another computer. That method works nicely as long as no message contains a picture. Hypertext links are OK but mail with embedded pictures doesn’t work. Either the combination process stops with the first email or the combined file ends up displaying the underlying HTML code instead.

However, there is another way to combine emails that I sometimes use to transfer mail from one computer to another or to archive a bunch of email in one file. This one works fine with graphics. Select the emails you are interested in and then click the “Forward” button. All the messages will be attached in a single new message. You do not have to actually forward the new message with all the attachments but can save it anywhere on your computer that you like. I do not know what limit OE itself might place on the number of attachments but I have attached as many as 30 emails to a single message. Note, however, that not all ISPs may allow multiple attachments. Also, ISPs usually limit the size of an email, with 10 MB being a common number.

I get a lot of email newsletters and I don’t always have time to read them all or extract the items that I like to save. I have a folder for saved emails and often the number builds up. Since I sometimes want to archive the collection, I make use of a feature in Outlook Express (OE) that can be used for combining a bunch of emails into one file. The feature was actually intended for combining emails or newsgroup messages that were sent in pieces (necessary for big files back in the days of narrow bandwidth) but it works for regular emails as long as they don’t contain graphics.

Select the emails to be combined by using either the Shift or Ctrl keys and open the OE menu “Message”. Choose “Combine and Decode” from the menu. A dialog box called “Order for decoding” will appear, listing all the messages. Don’t let the term “decoding” put you off. If you have some reason for doing so, you can change the order in which the different messages are combined but normally they will be in whatever order you use in your mailbox. Mine are chronological and I just leave them that way. When you are ready to combine the messages, click the button “OK”. The combined file will then be displayed in an OE window. Go to the “File” menu, click “Save as” and put the file wherever on your computer you want to keep it with an appropriate file name. The default format is the OE email format with extension “eml” but you can also choose a text format if your emails are pure text. The advantage of the eml format is that it preserves any hyperlinks in the original messages. Note that all the original messages are not affected and will still be in their original form and location.

I also use this method for transferring a bunch of messages from one computer to another. It is often easier than messing with the binary DBX files where OE messages are stored.

I am a Firefox fan but, alas, there are some rough spots in the new version 1.5. I previously wrote that I liked the new browser after using it for a day or two. More time has passed and I have since encountered a problem or two. For example, there seems to be incorrect rendering of a few sites that I visit. My account page at American Express is a mess although it looks fine in Firefox 1.07. Scot Finnie has just published an article in Internet Week outlining some complaints that he has about version 1.5. I haven’t noticed the heavy CPU usage he mentions but I haven’t been multitasking a lot and I haven’t been monitoring usage. I also haven’t seen the problems reading PDF files that he mentions.

Nonetheless, if you are considering upgrading to version 1.5 maybe you should hold off. If you have already installed 1.5 and want to revert to 1.07, uninstall 1.5 first. It is often a bad idea to install an older version of software on top of a newer one. A quick look around the Mozilla site did not show up any way to download the older 1.07 but it is probably available in various places. If you need a copy of the Firefox 1.07 installation file, I have put it up on my web site. Click here to download.

No, not my opinion, I try to keep these blog entries fairly short. The opinion is that of Scot Finnie, a frequent writer on computer subjects and currently editor at TechWeb. He has an interesting article where he gives some thought on what he thinks of Microsoft as a company. He complains that Microsoft has become like the old IBM that Microsoft bested in the computer markets of the past- uninterested in the basic consumer. He goes on to talk about the browser situation:

The Web browser market is the classic example. After competing all-out for the Web browser marketplace–and winning, hands down–Microsoft has barely done anything but tweak its Internet Explorer. It won the browser wars, so now seven years later an outmoded Web browser is our standard. What’s more, you can’t download it any more for free; Microsoft has decided that you must get your initial copy of Internet Explorer for Windows by buying a copy of Windows. If ever there were an example of why competition must be safe-guarded in a free-market system, this is it.

Scot does spend too much time talking about how IBM dropped the ball back in the 1980s and how they have improved, but he still manages to say some interesting things about Microsoft. Coming from a respected pro, they are worth reading.

While cleaning out my email, I ran across a reference to an article in PC World on the BIOS. It’s two years old but still pertinent. Generally, the BIOS is a mysterious place for average PC users. This article will help you understand this very important basic function. It might even help you with some problem like getting your CD drive accessed during the boot sequence.

Ever wonder what was on a motherboard? PC World has an article that will give you a short tour around what’s on the newest motherboards.

Sometimes, right after you carry out an action on the computer, you wish you hadn’t. Or maybe you hit the wrong key or clicked the wrong button by mistake. Fortunately, many actions have an “undo” feature and can be reversed. Very often the keyboard combination Ctrl+z will undo a previous action. Examples are copying, moving, or renaming a file. Say you moved a file to the wrong folder. Press the Ctrl key together with z and the file will be returned to its original location.

Another phishing scam that is catching the unwary pretends to be from the IRS. It is described in this ZDNet article:

A spam e-mail message has been sent around the world telling people they are eligible for a $571.94 tax refund from the IRS. The e-mail offers a link to a fraudulent IRS Web site, but the link actually goes through a legitimate government Web site that only last month was promoted by President Bush.

There are a number of useful PowerPoint presentations available on the Web for downloading, including at my site. If you don’t have PowerPoint on your computer you can still view presentations with free software from Microsoft. Download here

Microsoft has issued a small free program for cleaning out the Internet Explorer 6 temporary Internet files, cookies, and history. This can be especially useful if one of the index.dat files has gotten corrupted. Note, however, many sites that require a sign-in such as the New York Times, Amazon, Yahoo, etc. use cookies and you will have to re-enter any passwords or log-in names that are stored in cookies.

The file can be downloaded here.