I am running Windows 98 Second Edition on a Pentium 466. When I open the Control Panel’ I get the message ‘XCM Control Panel - Couldn’t load CMF.DLL, check BinDir in XCM.INI’. However, when I click ‘OK’ Control Panel then opens correctly. What can I do to rectify this? (more…)

I run Windows 98 with Outlook Express. Ever since starting my account with my new ISP my email has not been functioning effectively. Sending short text messages is usually not a problem, but sending larger messages or messages with attachments (Word files, small graphics etc) causes Outlook (and my ISP’s own email service most of the time) to infinitely try to send the message, without it ever actually being sent. For instance, Outlook displays ’sending message’ on the task bar for ages, and it eventually times out, or the Sending Message window displays for a long time with constant ’server has not responded for X seconds’ messages. Sending messages from elsewhere (work for instance), the messages, regardless of size, send instantly. Are my Outlook/IE4/general settings at fault, or is it a problem with my ISP? (more…)

When I run Windows 98 and Word 7 at home there are a couple of annoying glitches. Often when I open a Word document, a dialogue box (with beep) comes up telling me that “Word could not fire event”. As if to contradict this message, when I click OK, the file is opens without problem. How can I prevent the dialogue box and beep ever appearing again please? Another problem is that, for some mysterious reason, I have to insert a space (or extra space) if I want an apostrophe or quotation marks to appear when a word or phrase begins or ends with a letter in lower case. It can be a real pain having to remember this or later having to add the punctuation or spaces. Again, could you please advise me how to rectify that problem? (more…)

How can I copy the contents of my Favourites, on a selective basis, to give to friends without having to labouriously write the addresses out again? (more…)

I have an old Apple LaserWriter Plus printer. I bought a new system with Windows ‘98 installed and the dealers assured me that there is a driver for my printer in Windows ‘98. I checked and found that there is indeed such a driver. On the advice of an Apple retailer, I purchased a cable with a 9-pin plug on one end and a 25-pin plug on the other. I connected this to the Com-1 port on the new system, and the 25-pin socket on the printer. I installed the printer from Windows. On the back of the printer there is a knob which has these options: Appletalk, Special, 9600 or 1200. I turned it from Appletalk to 9600. When I try to print, nothing happens, although the yellow light on the printer blinks. I’ve tried every way of getting to the bottom of the problem, including contacting the Microsoft Help line. Their suggestion was that the driver included with Windows ‘98 doesn’t work with my printer. It seems odd that the driver would be supplied if it weren’t going to work. The printer itself, although old, works perfectly with a Macintosh. Do you have any suggestions? (more…)